Curating Corporate Art Collections

- by Nalini S Malaviya, Art Consultant

Art by Sunil Mishra, Reference Image, pic by author 

Curating a corporate art collection for a discerning client is an exciting and challenging process. It involves much more than selecting paintings or sculptural installations to beautify the lobby or the boardroom walls. 

It’s a strategic opportunity to build a visual identity that aligns with brand values, fosters team morale, and influences cultural dialogue beyond the workplace.

Having curated corporate art collections over the years, it has been a truly enriching process for me.

Corporate art initiatives, whether building an art collection or supporting a local art project offer a unique opportunity to make a difference and create occasions for public engagement. There have been instances, where I have also organized and conducted panel discussions and walkthroughs for employees and visitors as an adjunct activity to the art collecting process, and which I found have deepened audience engagement substantially.

Why should corporates invest in art?

Rendered Image for Reference

As I’ve written earlier in The Fine Art of Collecting, collecting art is no longer just about financial investment—it’s about intention and creating an identity.

• A well-curated corporate collection while contributing to the overall decor and environment, reflects the organization’s values and vision.
• Cultural positioning: It signals a company’s commitment to creativity and thought leadership.
• Brand storytelling: Art becomes a medium to communicate innovation, inclusivity, or local culture, or all three in equal measure.
• Internal engagement: Employees feel more motivated and enthused in an environment that values aesthetics and expression.

Supporting Artists and the Ecosystem

Corporate collections can play a pivotal role in nurturing artistic talent, especially local artists.

• Commissioning new work: Encourages experimentation and site-specific installations.
• Showcasing emerging voices: Offers visibility to emerging artists.
• Collaborative programming: Talks, walkthroughs, and workshops can activate the collection beyond static display.

This aligns with the ethos I’ve always championed for, which focuses on sparking dialogue around art; it is as important as the art itself and nurtures art appreciation.

Image for reference, pixabay

Curatorial Challenges

Curating for a corporate space comes with unique considerations:

• Balancing aesthetics and accessibility: The art must resonate with diverse audiences while remaining unoffensive. While one may prefer provocative art, in a corporate setting a neutral voice is generally desired.
• Navigating spatial constraints: Lobbies, corridors, and breakout zones each demand different approaches, placements and mediums.
• Ensuring longevity: It is imperative to factor in conservation, lighting, and rotation schedules which impact the life of an artwork.

Yet, these challenges are what make the process so rewarding. Each decision is an opportunity to educate, learn or engage further.

It is fortunate that a growing number of corporates are looking at art for their premises, not just for the sake of it, but also because they are passionate about it, and are now looking at diverse art forms, media and styles. Many actively try to overcome financial constraints and budgets, after all, let’s face it, investing in art requires intention and effort.

In India too, we’re seeing a growing interest in this space, with more companies recognizing the long-term value of art as both asset and advocacy.

Curating a corporate art collection is a dynamic, layered process—one that blends aesthetics with strategy, and passion with purpose. Each collection requires thought so that the archive grows along with the organization, and remains relevant over time.

Do reach out if you would like to initiate or support an art project, or wish to start an art collection. 

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Building an art collection

24 APR, 2011, 06.25AM IST, NALINI S MALAVIYA,ET BUREAU

An art collection can be a viable investment option

Building an art collection can be a rewarding experience, both aesthetically and as a viable investment option . It is important to realise that significant collections are not built overnight, but tend to evolve over a period of time. Very often, they are driven by the collector's tastes and preferences, especially in the initial stages. However, later on, they may evolve and get refined further due to a conscious effort.

One may decide to collect works from a certain period, school or region. He may decide to focus on one aspect or may opt to diversify and collect representative works that cover more elements. As a result, most art collections are highly indicative of the buyer's choices. This is especially true in the case of collections built by individuals .

A corporate art collection or one owned by a museum is likely to have a different approach altogether, more so in the case of the latter. Incidentally, there are a few banks, who own some of the finest art collections in the world. For corporates, hotels and institutions it makes a lot of sense to collect art as it can grow into something significant with time and become a source of joy and pride.

When storage becomes a problem most people prefer to build a separate space to display the works. And, it can be seen that when most individual collections evolve to an extent they may requires a s u b s t a n - tial amount of space and effort to house and display them. Very often, these spaces are then opened to public for viewing. In India, a large number of art collections are privatelyowned and many of them have been converted later on into museums that allow public access.
When collecting art, it is important to periodically review the artworks and see if some of them need to be sold off to either make space for new works or in order to build a more coherent compilation.

Collecting art

(By Nalini S Malaviya)

Most people who have enviable art collections are those who began collecting randomly and often just by chance. Most of them began collecting in the sixties and the seventies when collecting art was not in fashion and it definitely had not become a fad then. Buying art for the sake of financial investment was completely unheard of; nobody could imagine that one day these works of art would appreciate to the extent that they have.

These were then a few scattered individuals who bought art out of a passion for it and that too at very reasonable rates. It was not uncommon in those days to buy art for a few hundred rupees to a couple of thousand. Although, these amounts were considered to be exorbitant for those days, but when we look back, we can only marvel and feel nostalgic. Today it is unlikely that you could buy a work of art for anything less than Rs 10,000.

Collecting art is quite different from investing in art, although both can become synonymous with each other. The advantage with building an art collection is that one passionately buys only those pieces, which engages him or her, and over a period of time the collection can become quite significant and valuable both in terms of its monetary worth and its historical value. On the other hand, people who look at art purely from an investment angle tend to look at things very clinically, still it is quite possible that they too amass a significant body of work over a period of time if they retain it and not tried to sell artworks frequently.

As collectors believe in holding on to their works for longer durations, their collections grow much more as a financial investment even though that may not have been the primary objective. Most collectors are wealthy and have the capacity to tide through recessional times and they remain largely unaffected from the ups and downs of financial markets. This is a major advantage that they have, which normally other investors may lack and which is why it is important to consider art as an asset class only when one is diversifying their investment portfolio. On the whole, for those who can afford to, collecting art can be extremely rewarding in more ways than one.

(Abridged vn published in Financial Times)

A Veritable Treasure Trove - Art Collection at Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath, Bangalore

How many people know that Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath houses collections of art from early 19th century onwards? I have been a frequent visitor to their campus and have often visited the art exhibitions that are organized here on a regular basis, but somehow never went upstairs, which is where the galleries are. So, last week, at the behest of Harish Padmanabha, who incidentally is an avid art collector, I went there in search of Krishna Reddy’s prints.

I found that the Parishath has permanent galleries that showcase paintings by the Russian painter Nicholas Roerich, his son Svetoslav Roerich (whose estate is in the news for all the wrong reasons!), HK Kejriwal’s art collection, traditional and folk paintings, and leather puppets from the private collection of Nanjunda Rao.
 

The Roerichs’ collections are quite comprehensive and one can see Nicholas’s brilliant landscapes, Svetoslav’s fascinating portraits including those of Devika Rani and Nehru, and the Himalayan landscapes.
The Kejriwal collection features mainly the Bengal artists and a few other prominent artists from across the country. Whether these are the best works from the concerned artists is debatable, but the fact remains that it offers a fantastic opportunity to students and art lovers to get acquainted with a cross-section of some of India’s finest artists. Amrita Sher-Gil, Jamini Roy, Rabindranath Tagore, Gaganendranath Tagore, AR Chughtai, MF Husain, SH Raza, FN Souza, Shayamal Dutta Ray are just some of the names on these walls. The gamut of works (1830 to 1995) offers valuable insights into the history of art as it evolved from modernism to contemporary style. And, the art of Bengal, in particular that ranges from its folk art traditional format to its contemporary form.


The abstract graphic prints by Krishna Reddy, an internationally acclaimed printmaker are spectacular and a must watch. They are placed towards the far end of the exhibit space and one must remember to see them.
By the time I finished the contemporary art gallery my energy levels were flagging and I could not do justice to the traditional artworks, so another visit is on the cards.

Incidentally, the Parishath also has an ‘Art Mart’ where it sells works by upcoming and fairly established artists. Priced between Rs 2000 to a lakh or so, it offers a variety of pleasant pictures at an affordable price. But, if you looking for art as an investment then you need to come here armed with all the information. Also, there are various publications on sale, such as from the Lalit Kala Academy and Marg, books on art and prints.

(Published in Bangalore Mirror)

Updated on 8th Jul 2013 for title tags and labels