Swadeshi Moderne

At the moment of its introduction in the subcontinent, Art Deco was seen as simultaneously Western and universal style: Western in its geographic origins but universal in its wide-ranging visual inventory and eventual ubiquity. Its ability to occupy both these categories made the style an appealing choice for aspirational Indians.

Local architects actively began to use Art Deco in the beginning of the mid-1930s. They modified the style in response to an Indian cultural and geographic context, resulting in a formal mixture of foreign and regional design. The symbolism of the new architecture straddled two opposing political discourses, expressing neither a reverence for the colonising world nor a total return to local roots.

The swadeshi leanings of the insurance firms extended to the architects they contracted as well-all of the Art Deco offices built in the late 1930s were designed by local Indian practices such as Master (seated, second from the right), Sathe & Bhuta, Iyengar & Menzies, Kora & Bhat, and Mistry & Bhedwar.

Furthermore, the partnership between designers, manufacturers, and insurance companies suggests that, more than just a convenient choice, Art Deco was also an opportunity to promote a network of local artists and material suppliers.

Swadeshi, means of one's own country.

THE IMAGE OF INSURANCE DECO

A distinguishing feature of the interwar insurance buildings could be found in their stone cladding. With their relatively uniform massing and stone cladding, these offices were considered more “restrained” translations of the style that adopted a time-tested material representation of reliability.

The Warden House, built in 1941 as the office of the Warden Insurance Company, programmed the upper room of its circular tower for directors’ meetings, where optimal exposure to sunlight inferred an enhanced prestige.

In contrast, United India Insurance had its name embedded into the central tower of its office in five-foot-tall majuscule letters. With its predisposition to advertising and its integrated ornament, Art Deco architecture thus became a convenient mode of expression for Indian insurance firms looking to both establish their own brands and promote those of native entrepreneurs.

Executed by local artist V.A. Kamat, the symbolism continues in lotus patterns on wrought iron gates, and the elephant motifs that repeated in red sandstone panels along the façade (seen here) and carved into the Malad stone at the building’s entrance. The insurance owners’ dedication to illustrating their firm’s namesake indicates a desire to embody the affluence and luck of the mythology they reference, by literally inscribing it into the front of the institution.

While the Lakshmi Building adopted a spiritual iconography, several insurance buildings displayed more secular images of both rural and urban India.

A similar approach was taken for the People’s Insurance Co. Ltd office, now known as Onlookers Building. Its façade displays stacked bas-reliefs by local sculptor Shiavax Dhanjibhoy Chavda, portraying scenes of rural Indian life.

At the crown of the Western India House, for instance, the large relief panel depicts a sari clad female figure surrounded by numerous people in regional attire along with cattle and machinery. It highlights the cultural and social practices prevalent in the agrarian, industrial and rural landscapes of India from 1930s.

Ultimately, in all cases, the amplified visibility and expressive intricacy of Art Deco made it a convenient medium of announcing the insurance firms’ financial principles and larger loyalties to the people of India.

A SWADESHI LEGACY

Through these building designs, the modern yet foreign style paradoxically kept Indian traditions alive and also made evident the formal similarities between Art Deco and indigenous architecture. It was Art Deco’s nomadic character—and its consequent propensity to meld every visual tradition it encountered along its way—that allowed local architects to incorporate Indian symbols into the architecture without disturbing the overall integrity of the style.

This led to the creation of one of the finest collections of buildings that confidently inserted a national sense of self into a larger architectural landscape, making them an integral part of the cultural legacy of Mumbai.