Shot near Bhuj exhibition in Cheltenham

Shot near Bhuj, an art exhibition featuring exquisitely painted Indian birds, will be on show at Cheltenham Art Gallery and Museum this spring.

The mystery surrounding a set of paintings wrapped in brown-paper in the Cheltenham Art Gallery and Museum’s stores has been unravelled – and a fascinating art collection curated – in the Shot near Bhuj: Indian birds from Kachchh exhibition, opening on Saturday 6 March 2010.

Running until Saturday 20 June 2010, organisers say the collection of 30 paintings of Indian birds tell a fascinating story about Indian natural history, as well as Cheltenham’s past.

Detective work from the art gallery’s staff lead to the discovery that the paintings belonged to Henry Pitman, a surgeon who worked for the East India Company, whose career included a period in Bhuj in 1847 – where Pitman began a project to identify over 100 birds he’d seen and where he commissioned illustrations of his specimens by local Indian miniature artists.

Sophia Wilson, exhibitions and education manager at the gallery, said: ‘The paintings on show range from small insect eaters to large birds of prey. They are painted to give an accurate representation of the bird for the purposes of identification rather than being decorative. This has left us with a valuable historical resource especially as some birds are now near extinction.’

Organisers say that the collection also adds a unique element to Cheltenham’s history, where – because of its reputation as a fashionable spa town – Pitman retired and brought his paintings with him. More than 150 years later, Cheltenham residents and visitors can see the collection on show for themselves.

Please note, the dates listed here apply to the opening fortnight of this exhibition. Full dates for this exhibition are Saturday 6 March to Saturday 20 June 2010.