By Our Staff
Pune University has set up a cartoon art museum which is perhaps the country’s first museum for cartoon art.
Along with paintings by famous Indian cartoonists, there are many cartoons commenting on the socio-political developments in India since the beginning of the East India Company and its aftermath. The museum was inaugurated at the Savitribai Phule Pune University on Saturday, March 12 by veteran cartoonist Suraj ‘EskayY’ Sriram. Sriram has been the Project Director of the museum.
On the occasion, Savitribai Phule University Vice Chancellor Prof Nitin Karmalkar, Pro-Vice Chancellor Prof N S Umrani, Registrar Prof Prafulla Pawar, Head of Media and Communication Studies Department Dr Madhavi Reddy and Dr Vijay Khare, Director of International Centre were present.
Said Prof Karmalkar: “The history of cartoons for nearly two-and-a-half centuries can be seen through this Cartoon Art Museum. This is not just an exhibition of cartoons, we are conducting an experiment through which we are thinking about how the students will be educated in the future through courses, research and actual experience.”
Added ‘Eskay’, whose brainchild the project has been: “The university will help in reaching out to more and more art lovers and in the future it will also provide a platform for young artists for research and art exhibitions. Not only cartoons but also many books on cartoons are available in this gallery which will be used by the students for further study.”
Senior faculty and a heritage management specialist Dr Priya Gohad is Curator of the museum.