The National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA) plans to dedicate the Currency Building in Dalhousie to exhibitions of contemporary art, and has sent a proposal to the ministry of culture to turn Metcalfe Hall on Strand Road into a museum of modern art, Sanjeev Kishore Goutam, director-general of the NGMA, told The Telegraph.

Sanjeev Kishore Goutam, director-general of the NGMA, in the city last week

The partially dismantled Currency Building, which once served as the Reserve Bank of India, as its name suggests, came up in 1833. Metcalfe Hall resembles a Greek temple and was constructed between 1840 and 1844.

Goutam said he was planning to hold exhibitions regularly at Currency Building.

Later this year, an archival exhibition on Amrita Sher-Gil will be held here after it is shown at the NGMA Mumbai. This will be held in collaboration with a museum in Hungary, and old photographs of Sher-Gil will be displayed along with some of her works. Sher-Gil’s painting of her grandmother will be on display.

Goutam was here last week for the preview of a big exhibition of visual arts organised by the NGMA, executed by Basu Foundation, and curated by Sayantan Maitra Boka. The exhibition, titled Material as Metaphors: A Dialogue of Art Forms, is being held at the Currency Building, a heritage structure in BBD Bag, just a stone’s throw away from Writers’ Buildings.

Both the Currency Building and Metcalfe Hall are heritage structures under the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI). The NGMA and ASI are under the ministry of culture.

This is the second major exhibition to be held in the Currency Building. The last one was Ghare Baire, organised by the Delhi Art Gallery from January 2019 to November 2021.

Goutam, who is an artist and printmaker himself and is one of the 53 participants of this exhibition, said: “Of the nine Indian artists designated National Treasures, many are from Bengal. Both Mumbai and Bangalore have NGMA branches, so why not Calcutta? It is sad that it never happened in Calcutta earlier, given its cultural legacy. Just before I joined, an MoU was signed between NGMA and ASI. Infrastructure has to be created at the Currency Building. It has no parking space, and no lift can be installed now. The ASI regulations are very tough. The culture minister is keen on starting exhibitions in Calcutta.”

About Metcalfe Hall, Goutam said the NGMA is waiting for a response from the ministry of culture.

“As a modern art museum, Metcalfe Hall needs infrastructure and manpower. It has enough possibilities, but it is still in the planning stage,” he said.

“The next branch of the NGMA will open in Bhubaneswar,” he added.