The art of timeless style

In the midst of high-priced clothes and shoe shops trying to pass of as haute couture and sophisticated climes of corporate condominiums, you’d think art would exist only in pseudo-intellectual party conversations that happen over weekends in Breach Candy terrace gardens. And this was exactly the attitude that Pheroza Godrej, then 23, encountered when she decided to open an art gallery there in 1971. Real art, with a jhola, a kurta, an empty wallet and a burning passion was confined to Kala Ghoda. But Pheroza, an artist herself, was tired of dealing with overbooked galleries and decided to open one herself. Now, an artist turned art-promoter, she is celebrating 25 years of Cymroza. As you enter the gallery on Warden Road, you are greeted by Pheroza, immaculately dressed in a perfectly-draped sari, palav pinned on her shoulder, hair in place and wearing her signature spectacles. But do not expect Pheroza (the wife of industrialist Jamshyed Godrej) to do more than that. She likes people to feel comfortable, to just look around and does not want to intimidate her customers or be intrusive by striking up a conversation. "I started the gallery because of the impatience of youth," says she. And this young-woman-in-a-hurry, also developed a passion for art at a very young age. She won awards for her work throughout her school and college years. She also studied Fine Arts at a college affiliated to JJ School of Art while she was still at school. But since she opened Cymroza she no longer paints but promotes other painters. "It is difficult to be painter and promoter," she says. Though she confesses that there are times when she misses putting paint to canvas. "Especially in the last seven years, it is a question I have often asked myself," she says. But what she doesn’t question is that Cymroza has never shown any of her work. That just isn’t Pheroza’s style.

The gallery however is a perfect reflection of her personality. When Cymroza first started, it did not exclusively show paintings. In the spirit of the ’70s, it was a place that housed a cultural movement. "People came here and read poetry and some came and sang." Aided and abetted by Pheroza who is a theatre buff and has acted in plays with the likes of Kabir Bedi, Alyque Padamsee and Roger Pereira. As with art, she no longer dabbles in theatre but tries to watch every play that’s on. She enjoys reading plays, especially Shakespearean tragedies. An MA in English Literature, Pheroza also taught for a while. She takes that training into the gallery and today Cymroza regularly holds lectures and seminars on art. And even after a quarter of a century, Pheroza looks forward to the opening of every exhibition. She says, "Every exhibition is like a wedding." It takes great time and effort to organise an exhibition and she finds this part the most exciting. "You have to sustain the interest throughout the whole show," she adds.

Over the years, Pheroza has seen awareness of Indian art grow. "We used to get a lot of criticism about abstract art or violence in work and people had stopped coming to the gallery. For about eight or nine years now people have started coming back as they have realised that even an artist has to release his emotions," says she. What she does not like is the recent trend that takes art to the level of a status symbol. "You should buy art because you like it not because it is an investment," she says. And her love shows in her homes which are covered, almost wall-to-wall, with art. "People say my house in Delhi looks more like an art gallery," she says. Her own taste ranges from the traditional to the contemporary. To celebrate Cymroza’s 25 years, two special exhibitions have already been held. Pheroza is currently in America visiting her daughter who studies there but she will be back in time for a third exhibition that will showcase the works of nine women artists. Which, she promises will be a strong show.