Kekoo Gandhy Biography 
Kekoo Gandhy was art gallerist, art collector and art connoisseur from Mumbai, who was most active in the field since 1940s. He is best remembered for pioneering Indian modern art since pre-independent era of 1940s, and he conducted numerous art exhibitions to promote modern art. In fact he acted as an art curator and gallerist to promote budding talents like K. H. Ara, S. H. Raza, K. K. Hebbar and M. F. Husain, who later went on to become immensely successful in the field of art. For his overall contributions towards the field of Indian art and culture, best as a promoter, government of India honoured Kekoo Gandhy with Padma Shri in 2008. He passed away in 2012.
Kekoo Gandhy was born on 2 February 1920 in Mumbai, British India. Minocher Gandhy and Roshan Gandhy were his parents. Till matriculation he studied in different schools of Mumbai, and for advanced studies he moved to Cambridge where he studied at Pembroke College. In 1939 he came to India for summer vacation, but couldn’t return because of outbreak of World War Second. He took the job of Honorary Secretary of the Bombay Art Society in 1940 and he was the first Indian to serve this position.
In 1941 he joined hands with his brother and got into business. The siblings set up Chemical Moulding Manufacturing Company to manufacture frames for paintings. Since then he started displaying paintings of Bombay Progressive Artists' Group, and slowly they started sale of such paintings as well, which slowly picked up. Well-known Jewish poet Nissim Ezekiel served as gallery manager in those days.
He started spotting promising young talents and exhibited their works as well. Kekoo established Gallery Chemould in 1963 on the first floor of the Jehangir Art Gallery. Till 2007 art exhibitions were held there. Later it was shifted to new premises on Prescott Road and now his daughter looks after it. He died on 10 November 2012. He was suffering from pancreatic cancer. He married Khorshed Adenwalla in 1944 and had 4 children.
Published: January 28, 2019
Updated: January 28, 2019
