Honouring Nagy’s contribution and wishes, Nature Morte will not close in mourning.American artist and gallerist Peter Nagy passed away on October 13 following a prolonged illness, Delhi’s Nature Morte gallery, which he founded in 1997, said in an official statement. He was 67.“He lived exactly as he chose: fearlessly, irreverently and wildly free. He had no patience for convention for its own sake and endless patience for ideas, for artists and for the people he loved,” the statement said.This penchant for all things avant-garde reflected in his practice, both as an artist and a gallerist.A graduate in Communication Design from Parsons, Nagy’s practice looked at art as a conceptual tool to comment on its own commodification during the art market boom of the 1980s in the US.Nagy put art before the market. So when he turned gallerist at the age of 22, by co-founding the original Gallery Nature Morte in New York City’s East Village in 1982, with fellow artist Alan Belcher, he naturally put the artist first — an approach he continued when he reestablished the gallery in Delhi.Under his leadership, Nature Morte, which completed 30 years last month with a new space in Gulmohar Park, became “one of the defining institutions of contemporary art in South Asia,” representing the biggest names in contemporary India art, including Subodh Gupta, Bharti Kher, Jitish Kallat, Reena Saini Kallat, Sagarika Sundaram among others.“For more than four decades he championed artists with a rare combination of rigour, instinct and loyalty, believing in them long before others did and nurturing them without pause,” the gallery said.Story continues below this adNagy moved to India in 1992 after feeling disillusioned with the New York art scene. He led a minimalist life, making a livelihood by selling his own paintings. But as he explored the country, his keen eye spotted the potential of Indian contemporary art, prompting him to revisit the idea of running a gallery.Thus opened Nature Morte in Delhi in 1997, initially as a roving project with pop-up exhibitions at the India Habitat Centre, eventually finding a permanent home in Neeti Bagh in 2003.During the Covid-19 pandemic, the gallery relocated to Dhan Mill compound in Chhatarpur — a space it gave up earlier this year — with an additional smaller gallery-cum-office in Vasant Vihar. During this period he also partnered with Aparajita Jain, who joined Nature Morte in 2013 as co-director. Together, thegallery’s footprint with a new space in Mumbai, invested in public art through the Jaipur Sculpture Park and consistently introduced the Indian audience to renowned international artists, including Alicja Kwade, Jeppe Hein, Richard Long and most recently, the iconic Chinese artist, Ai Wei Wei.That Nagy played an integral role in shaping India’s contemporary art movement is evident in the tributes that followed the news of his death. Historian and curator Ranjit Hoskote noted that Nagy had “superb artistic instincts” and described his vision as one of “a champion of art and artist”.Story continues below this adArtist Atul Dodiya said “his presence in the Indian art world was special.”Honouring Nagy’s contribution and wishes, Nature Morte will not close in mourning.“To him, an exhibition was never about the gallery. It belonged to the artist who had poured themselves into it and to everyone who came to see it. He believed an artist’s moment should never be put on hold, and that the truest way to honour a life given to art is to keep showing it,” the gallery said.Trisha Mukherjee is an Associate Editor at The Indian Express. As a feature journalist with over 12 years of experience in diverse newsrooms -- Press Trust of India, Outlook magazine and The New Indian Express -- she has written on cultural, social and political issues, with a particular focus on art. She has covered several national and international art events, including multiple editions of Art Basel Hong Kong, the Venice Biennale, Kochi-Muziris Biennale, Serendipity Arts Festival and the India Art Fair, among others. She attempts to look at contemporary issues ranging from farmers’ protest and women’s rights to climate change and global politics, through the cultural lens. She is an alumna of Calcutta University and Indian Institute of Mass Communication, Dhenkanal. Additionally, she also holds a Post Graduate Diploma in Indian Aesthetics from Jnanapravaha, Mumbai. At The Indian Express, her art writing strives to capture the dynamic art industry -- both Indian and global -- with a focus on its new voices, changing institutional models and evolving markets, while continuing coverage of colonial and modern Indian art. ... Read More For more lifestyle news, click here to join our WhatsApp Channel and also follow us on Instagram