Abhishek Poddar
{{Short description|Indian industrialist, philanthropist and art collector}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2017}}
{{Use Indian English|date=July 2017}}
Abishek Poddar (born 1968) is an Indian industrialist, philanthropist and art collector. Poddar has served on the advisory committees of the National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA), Bengaluru and is currently on the advisory panel of the Foundation Inde-Europe de Nouveaux Dialogues (FIND) or the India-Europe Foundation for New Dialogues, headquartered in Rome,{{cite web |title=Abhishek Poddar: Executive Profile |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/private/person.asp?personId=59145469&privcapId=39456924 |website=Bloomberg }} Trustee of the Art & Photography Foundation, Bengaluru and on the Board of the Museum of Art & Photography, Bengaluru. He is also the former Honorary Consul for Poland in Bengaluru.{{cite web |url=http://www.newdelhi.mfa.gov.pl/en/embassy/embassy_staff |title=Embassy of the Republic of Poland in New Delhi |access-date=17 March 2015}} He is also the director of Sua Explosives & Accessories,{{cite web|title=Sua Explosives & Accessories Pvt. Ltd.|url=http://www.suaexplosives.in/aboutus-people.html|access-date=17 March 2015}} and the managing director of Matheson Bosanquet.
{{Infobox person
| name = Abhishek Poddar
| image = Abhishek Poddar.png
| birth_place = Calcutta
| alma_mater = St. Xavier's College, Calcutta
}}
Personal life and education
Poddar was born in Calcutta (Kolkata) as the son of industrialist Bimal Poddar. He attended the all-boys' boarding school, The Doon School in Dehradun, and then went to St. Xavier's College, Calcutta.{{cite web | url=https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/supplement/story/20100208-why-i-collect-art-741871-2010-01-28 | title=Why I collect art }} Poddar is married to Radhika Sanghi, founder of the design and lifestyle store Cinnamon. They have two children and live in Bengaluru.
Career
Poddar worked initially at Khaitan & Co., and later at the Standard Chartered Bank before joining the family businesses. In the 1970s, the Poddar family acquired Matheson Bosanquet, an 80-year-old company with activities in tea production, trading and export, and shipping. Poddar joined the company in the late 1980s and took over as Managing Director in 1997. He also became Managing Director of the Poddar family's company, Sua Explosives & Accessories Private Limited, which manufactures and supplies mining explosives and accessories in India, catering to both the domestic and international market. Other companies he owns range from trading and export to the retail sector.
Museum of Art & Photography (MAP)
{{main article|Museum of Art & Photography}}
Poddar serves as the Founder-Trustee at the Museum of Art & Photography, a unit of the Art & Photography Foundation. MAP is a Bangalore-based museum set to open in 2020.{{Cite web|url=https://www.whitewall.art/art/collector-abhishek-poddars-vision-new-museum-india|title=Collector Abhishek Poddar's Vision for a New Museum in India|date=2019-02-04|website=Whitewall|access-date=2019-03-14}} With his family, Poddar donated $7 million and 7,000 pieces from their personal collection to the Museum of Art & Photography in Bangalore. As the first major private art museum in India's tech city, it already has more than 18,000 works covering the gamut from modern and contemporary Indian art to photography and popular culture.{{Cite web|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/gracechung/2018/11/12/asias-2018-heroes-of-philanthropy/|title=Asia's 2018 Heroes Of Philanthropy: Putting Wealth To A Good Cause|last=Chung|first=Grace|website=Forbes|language=en|access-date=2019-03-14}}
Patronage and philanthropy
As an active art collector since the early 1980s, Poddar created a significant collection of South Asian art, craft and antiquities, including modern and contemporary art which according to the auction house Christie's is one of the world's most important collections on the sub-continent.{{Cite news|url=https://www.christies.com/features/The-Abhishek-and-Radhika-Poddar-collection-of-Indian-Modern-and-Contemporary-Art-7960-1.aspx|title=Abhishek Poddar: From teenage collector to a titan of Indian art {{!}} Christie's|access-date=2018-08-23|language=en}} In 2018, Poddar donated the majority of the family collection to the Museum of Art & Photography, Bengaluru, a project of which the family are also patrons. He was named as one of Asia's Heroes Of Philanthropy by Forbes Magazine in 2018.{{Cite web|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/gracechung/2018/11/12/asias-2018-heroes-of-philanthropy/|title=Asia's 2018 Heroes Of Philanthropy: Putting Wealth To A Good Cause|last=Chung|first=Grace|website=Forbes|language=en|access-date=2019-03-14}}
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{cite web |url=http://tedxtalks.ted.com/video/TEDxAhmedabad-Abhishek-Poddar-R |title=Rediscovering Photography |publisher=TEDx Ahmedabad |access-date=13 March 2015}}
- {{cite web |url=http://dnasyndication.com/dna/article/DNBAN39088 |title=How I Made It |last=Sharanya |first=C R |date=13 March 2011 |website=DNA India |access-date=17 March 2015}}
- {{cite web |url=http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/the-art-of-growing-cultural-capital-explore-public-private-partnership-to-support-art-and-culture/1/248503.html |title=The Art of Growing Cultural Capital |last=Poddar |first=Abhishek |date=1 February 2013 |website=India Today |access-date=17 March 2015}}
- {{cite web |url=http://map-india.org/|title=The Museum of Art & Photography |access-date=27 March 2018}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Poddar, Abhishek}}
Category:Indian art collectors
Category:Businesspeople from Bengaluru
Category:The Doon School alumni