The Motwani Jadeja Foundation Art Initiative seeks to promote India’s Soft Power and foster the appreciation for Indian art and culture globally. This initiative is being spearheaded in collaboration with Hugo Weihe, an Indian art world pioneer, who founded the Indian department at Christie’s New York in 1998, where he contributed significantly to building a market for Indian art and subsequently headed Saffronart in Mumbai from 2014. The ‘Soft Power’ initiative was officially launched on October 6, 2022, at the Jadeja residence in Palo Alto.

Culture is a source of identity and pride and serves to build bridges. It embodies creative power and shared values that can be unlocked to the benefit of all. Indian art and culture spans more than 5000 years. If the global Indian art market serves as an indicator, Indian art still lags far behind other categories such as Chinese art or AmericanPostwar and Contemporary art. This is unjustified in terms of quality and cultural significance and represents a mismatch in appreciation.

At the time of Independence in 1947, Prime Minister Nehru fully realized the importance of art and design to define a nation. He chose cutting-edge architects and designers to conceive a new city in Chandigarh, which was to be a symbol of modern India. Ahmedabad emerged as a hub of creative energy under the initiative of the Sarabhai family, leading to the foundation of the National Institute of  Design (NID) and a fruitful exchange with key artists and designers from around the world, including Le Corbusier, Charles Eames, and Alexander Calder.

In the mid-1960s, John D. Rockefeller III extended grants to Indian artists for residencies in New York, which proved to be a fruitful exchange and had a profound influence on the course of Indian Modernism. In March 2005 Tyeb Mehta’s Mahisasura sold at auction in New York for $1.5m, surpassing the $1 million threshold for the first time. It was a huge step and vindication for the artist as well as for modern and contemporary Indian art as a whole. I had the privilege of being the auctioneer, but when I congratulated the artist afterward, he wasn’t particularly excited. He stated that the painting had belonged to somebody else and that he didn’t personally benefit. While anything he would be doing in future would be on a different price level, he stated that he was an old man now and could only paint very slowly, but his dream was that a work of his could be at MoMA one day and perhaps that could happen now. To achieve such well-deserved goals matches the spirit of the MJ Art Initiative.

Nita Ambani has recently announced the opening of the Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Center (NMACC) in Mumbai in March 2023. Kiran Nadar has formed a superlative collection of Indian art spanning classical to contemporary and is building a new museum (KNMA) in Delhi to share it with the public. We want to encourage others to follow. Not only in building institutions, but to start small and appreciate what we have.

MJ Art plans to organize regular events highlighting exciting and diverse aspects of Indian art and culture, spanning from the past to the present. It will introduce thought leaders and stakeholders to help educate and deepen the understanding.

It’s happening. May India’s soft power shine.