Rajeeb and Nadia Samdani have been listed among 200 collectors by the ARTnews.
According to an article published by the ARTnews, the Samdani's vast collection includes modern and contemporary Bangladeshi artists as well as artists from India and Pakistan.
The Samdani couple have appeared in the list for the first time along with 22 others this year. On the other hand, some 13 others have been on the list since it began in 1990 while 20 other collectors have been recognised more than 20 times.
Nadia Samdani (L), Rajeeb Samdani. Photo courtesy 2014 Dhaka Art Summit
Industrialists Rajeeb is co-chair and a founding member of Tate’s South Asian Acquisition Committee but the Samdanis are best known for their biennial, Dhaka Art Summit.
Dhaka Art Summit brings together curators, artists and other arts professionals from around the globe and the third edition of the summit will be held in February 2016.
In 2014, the summit attracted around 70,000 visitors, putting it on par, attendance-wise, with a major international art fair.
Terming the event as a support for art from the region, Rajeeb said: “Bangladesh doesn’t have a dedicated contemporary art museum.
He said the event also plays host to new works and commissions from international artists, like Lynda Benglis and Simryn Gill.
The young Bangladeshi indutrialist couple's Samdani Art Foundation gives out the biannual Samdani Art Award to a young Bangladeshi artist in partnership with the Delfina Foundation.
The jury for the award includes Cosmin Costinas, director of Hong Kong’s Para/Site, Catherine David, deputy director of Paris’s Centre Pompidou, and Massimiliano Gioni, artistic director of New York’s New Museum.
At the Venice Biennale in 2015, the Samdanis’ foundation supported the work of Naeem Mohaiemen and Raqs Media Collective, both included in the curated exhibition “All The World’s Futures.”
In 2014 they were nominated for the Forbes India Art Award in the Young Collector of the Year category in recognition of their collection of Indian artists such as Anish Kapoor, Bharti Kher, Jitish Kallat, Ravinder Reddy, Chitra Ganesh, and Subodh Gupta.
Founded in 1902, ARTnews is the oldest and most widely-circulated art magazine in the world. Its readership of 180,000 in 123 countries includes collectors, dealers, historians, artists, museum directors, curators, connoisseurs, and enthusiasts.
Published eleven times a year, ARTnews reports on the art, personalities, issues, trends and events shaping the international art world.
