Established in 1984 as Images, and renamed as Gallery Silver Scapes in 2009, this premium gallery of Indian modern and contemporary art is located in the tony neighbourhood of Anand Niketan in South Delhi.
It was founded by Mrs Manjula Badhwar Mayor, granddaughter of Diwan Jarmani Das, prime minister in the Indian princely states of Kapurthala and Patiala in the early 20th century, who authored well-known books such as Maharaja, Maharani: A Fabulous Collection of Adventures of Indian Maharanis and Royal Mistresses, The Maharaja’s Man, among others. Mrs Mayor was sensitised towards all things fine early on in life, an interest that she chiselled at Scindia Kanya Vidyalaya, Gwalior, and Loreto Convent, Calcutta.
Mrs Mayor was walked into the art world by the legendary modernist Bimal Das Gupta, one of whose biggest collections remains with Gallery Silver Scapes. In the 1980s, as head and first curator of the Habiart Gallery founded by Mrs Rekha Modi — a childhood friend — Mrs Mayor worked closely with and curated shows for renowned artists such as A Ramachandran, GR Santosh, Rameshwar Broota, Sakti Burman, MK Bardhan, Dhiraj Chaudhury, M Sivanesan, and Arup Das among others.
Besides modern masters, she also worked with young contemporaries such as Sudip Roy, Paresh Maity, Subroto Kundu, Vinod Sharma, and many more. Artworks commissioned by her are now part of prestigious collections, such as those of the India Habitat Centre, Ranbaxy, Pepsi, Hotel Lalit, Bank of America, and many more private and public collections.
It is now helmed by her son, Mr Vikram Mayor, who is as passionate about art as his mother. The gallery continues to work with the veterans and the seniors, besides nurturing younger talent such as Rene Rajpal, Nikhil Chaganlal, Shyamal Mukherjee, Jitendra Dangi, and Chaitali Chanda among others.