Neelpawan Baruah Museum of Modern Art
Curator: Moushumi Kandali
	Artist Neelpawan Baruah, born in 1936, is one of the most significant artists of North-East India and Assam, who has made immense contribution to the modern art discourse of the entire region. With a formal degree in Fine Arts from Santiniketan in 1968, Neelpawan Baruah ushered a new direction in the art scene with his artistic experimentations as well as organisational leadership by establishing the Assam Fine Arts & Crafts Society in 1971. The Neelpawan Baruah Museum of Modern Art in Tezpur University is an archive and permanent display of some of his most significant artworks. Handed over to the Tezpur University by the artist himself for educational and conservational purposes, the museum has the collection of total 55 artworks in different artistic media from oil painting on canvass to sketches in ink and acrylic. The museum has been set up under the aegis of the Centre with Potential for Excellence in Particular Area (2016 - 2021), a special scheme awarded by the University Grants Commission to Tezpur University in 2016 with the Department of Cultural Studies as the lead department.
Curated and designed according to diverse mediumistic exploration of the artist, the display also gives emphasis to showcase the creative journey of the artist by tracing the evolution and gradual transition of his art. One of the most precious and important generic collections of this museum is the artworks done on the cigarette packs. The cigarette packs are indeed a unique medium to be used for artistic creation by any artist in India, and for that matter in the world, where used and discarded cigarette packs are transformed into an art- objects, thereby giving a positive message about creating something artistic out of the unwanted and discarded things of life. Two works done in papier-mâché, several untitled works depicting human-animal relations and cultural assimilation, and some of artworks such as Vishnu or a beautiful painting of Krishna playing flute under a tree are some significant collections of this museum. The outer walls of the museum have been decorated and designed with enlarged flex-print of Neelpawan Baruah’s some of the brilliant artworks, to create the desired artistic effect and make the ambience of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences.