Similar to the princely collections of Europe, during India’s pre-colonial past its extraordinary artistic creativity was patronized and collected by Mughal emperors, nawabs, and Hindu maharajas. These efforts formed the basis of great palatial collections. In the nineteenth century, as most of India fell under colonial rule, the British established the first Indian museum, primarily founded upon their vision and categorizations of Indian art. After Independence in 1947, it was actually an American, the renowned museum director and museologist, Grace Louise McCann Morley (1900–1985), who worked alongside Prime Minister Nehru to create the premiere major national art museum in India. She was to become its founding director. In addition to Morley, MAP shares another kindred link with the museums of America – for many of the greatest art museums were spearheaded as private institutions and through the benevolence of individual collectors, such as Henry Clay Frick, Peggy Guggenheim, J.P. Morgan, and Avery Brundage.

MAP now wishes to continue these pioneering bonds between the countries of India and the United States through the sharing of its artistic legacy, forging strong collaborative undertakings such as an inaugural major exhibition of Indian art that presented in both countries; the exhibiting of American collections of Indian art in India; co-curatorship of MAP exhibitions by emerging American and Indian art scholars; joint interpretative and educational programming, publications for diverse readers, ranging from school children to scholars; and the partnering of art conservation methods and resources. Most significantly, in the spirit of Grace Morley, it now welcomes the opportunity to tell the story of Indian culture, now through the most contemporary and innovative methods, to its custodians—the people of India—and ensure that this narrative will continue for generations to come.

More than 70 years after Indian independence, and as a 21 st -century phenomenon, MAP will represent a true cultural reciprocity between the two nations. While welcoming American museums’ expertise in conservation and museology, MAP believes it will serve as a “cultural diplomat” in the United States, encouraging a greater appreciation of one of this earth’s oldest and long-enduring civilizations and now a diverse country representing the world’s largest democracy on earth second-most populous nation.