12 Facts About Kekoo Gandhy

Kekoo Gandhy was an Indian art gallerist, art collector and art connoisseur, who pioneered the promotion of Indian modern art from the 1940s.

Kekoo Gandhy was awarded the Padma Shri by Government of India in 2008.

Kaikhushru Minocher Gandhy was born in Bombay on 2 February 1920 to Minocher Gandhy and Roshan Gandhy.

In 1940, Kekoo Gandhy was appointed Honorary Secretary of the Bombay Art Society, the first Indian to hold the position.

Kekoo Gandhy displayed Bombay Progressive Artists' Group paintings in Chemould's Bombay shop, which grew out of a godown on Princess Street; the Bombay Progressives made their first sales through this shop.

Immediately after his successful first Husain exhibition, in 1951, Kekoo Gandhy collaborated with industrialist and collector Cowasji Jehangir and the nuclear scientist Homi Bhabha to establish the Jehangir Art Gallery in Bombay, a first for modern art.

Kekoo Gandhy established Gallery Chemould in 1963 on the first floor of the Jehangir Art Gallery, holding exhibitions there until 2007, when it moved to its new premises on Prescott Road.

At various times Kekoo Gandhy actively supported the Lalit Kala Akademi and Triennale India 1968.

Kekoo Gandhy died on 10 November 2012, at his home at Bandra bandstand in Mumbai, after a brief illness due to pancreatic cancer.

Kekoo Gandhy was survived by four children, Rashna, Adil, Behroze, and Shireen.

In December 2013, part of Kekoo and Khorshed Gandhy's personal collection of art was sold at Christie's first auction in India.

Kekoo Gandhy appears thinly disguised as Parsi gallery owner 'Kekoo Mody' in Salman Rushdie's The Moor's last sigh.