He was a true friend to India, to human causes and to artists – and the world is a lesser place for his passing. On June 16, an era ends with the death of Thomas B.Keehn, 93, whose sojourn in India had an impact on the nascent art movement in India. Today’s noted artists like Krishen Khanna, Ram Kumar and MF Husain were relative unknowns in those days and Keehn, who was representing an organization set up by Nelson Rockefeller, first saw their remarkable potential and nurtured them. In 1956 he organized the Eight Painters Exhibition in Delhi, a seminal show which spotlighted new names like Husain, Ram Kumar, Gaitonde, Satish Gujral, N.S. Bendre, and K.S. Kulkarni.
Keehn and his wife Martha spent eight happy years in India, and four of their six children were born there. It was a love affair with India and they maintained friendships over the years. He compiled Martha’s letters, anecdotes and photographs into a book, ‘India Ink’ which also contained photographs of their remarkable art collection. His unerring eye helped him to build up a collection of today’s masters and he became friends with many of these artists over the years.
Deepak Talwar, Director of the Talwar Gallery, is one of the many friends whose lives he touched: “A five decade long passion for Indian art brought many of us into his fold and we are ever so much richer because of having him in our lives, where he will continue to live.”
A true humanitarian, Keehn donated many paintings to World Education, a nonprofit organization based in Boston, which both he and Martha supported. As he told me some years back, “I don’t feel a sense of ownership, so much as a sense of being the lucky, fortunate transmitter of these paintings to other people for them to see in the exhibition, or for World Education to benefit from. It’s not a personal gain that I am interested in.”
