Indian Rajput court paintings to go on exhibition at the Met in New York

NEW YORK (Diya TV) — Steven M. Kossak decided at age 36 to return to school and pursue a degree in art history. Soon thereafter, he joined the Metropolitan Museum of Art as a research assistant, and worked his way up the totem pole to his current position, where he serves as full curator of the museum’s Asian Art department.

In a little over two weeks, the museum plans to open a new exhibit titled, “Divine Pleasures: Painting from India’s Rajput Courts—the Kronos Collections,” which features nearly 100 works Kossak once purchased for his own private collection. Now worth millions of dollars, Kossak and his family have promised to bestow the works upon the museum as a token.

Kossak said as a collector he became endeared to the colorful paintings of northern India’s small kingdoms from the 16th and 19th centuries. The pieces were inspired by Hindu myths and poetry, watercolors were used to record the images of love, life and the country’s gods. The titles are just as colorful — “Krishna and the Gopas [Cowherds] Huddle in the Rain” and “Krishna Swallows the Forest Fire.”

Kossak said each purchase was made because of its emotional response. “It’s lightning-bolt recognition across the board,” he said.

“They pack a wallop in content, style and beautiful color,” said Vishakha Desai, president emerita and Asian-art scholar of the Asia Society. “You can enjoy them whether you know the content or not. Any museum would want this.”

The paintings also fill a void that the Met — and several other premiere art institutions — have on their walls when it comes to south Asian art. Mughal paintings were once the most popular among wealthy collectors, foreign royalty and even Russian czars. However, Rajput paintings are more colorful and reflect what can be seen in India today, said Milo C. Beach, an Indian-art specialist and former director of the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery and the Freer Gallery.

“It’s a much more alive kind of painting,” Beach said. “Because of this gift,” he continued, “the Met will be unrivaled in Rajput paintings among American museums.”

Kossak began collecting Indian paintings back in the 70s, and his collection grew larger after joining the Met’s staff — through the museum’s network, he was introduced to more expansive web of art dealers. During his tenure at the Met from 1986 until 2006, Kossak did all he could to form a complete Rajput collection. “When the Met couldn’t afford it, I bought it,” he said.

Though the museum was reluctant to accept the situation, there was no stopping Kossak.

“The basic rule at the Met then was one of trust,” said Philippe de Montebello, the museum’s director at the time. “He would have brought it to the attention of the museum, and said ‘If you’re not going to go after it, then I will.’ ”

The collection has never officially been valued — early on, Kossak would have paid less than $50,000 for one of the paintings. Now, dealers say several of them could fetch between $500,000 and $800,000, with some of his rarest pieces going for a few million dollars each. Kossak estimates the gift to the museum is worth between $15 and $20 million.