J j school of art Sir J. J. School of Art was founded in March 1857 with the generous donation offered by Sir Jamshedji Jeejeebhoy, the first Baronet. Sir J.J. School of Art is one of the pioneering institutes of fine art education in India, since its establishment in 1878 in the current Campus, with generous donation of Jamshetji Jijibhoy, under the British administration. The School today stands in the heritage building with departments of drawing and painting, sculpture and modelling, mural, portraiture, print making, arts and craftes including ceramics, interior decoration, metal work and textiles; and teachers training with art teachers’ diploma, Art Masters and Diploma in Painting Education. The college has undergraduate and post graduate programs with BFA and MFA degrees conferred to the students. Sir J.J. School of Art began in 1857 with elementary drawing and design classes at Elphinstone institute. With the initial aim of imparting European academic art knowledge in the sub-continent, the college developed with the establishment of art and craft departments with rich diversity of culture in India as the resource point. Later in 1865, with arrival of Mr. Lockwood Kipling, Mr. Higgins and Mr. Griffiths, a school of Architecture, Class for teacher of Art and Craft and School of Decorative design were founded, as students were trained for great activities. This year also saw the school shifting from Elphinstone to its current campus in Bombay Esplanade, as the building began to be structured. While Mr. Kipling initiated crafts development with the arts and crafts movement, Mr. Griffiths encouraged a project of reproduction of Ajanta Murals. This period saw the emergence of artists like Pestonji Bomanji, Pithawala, M.V. Dhurandhar. By 1890, the school of taken over by the Education Department of Government of Bombay, accepting the significance of Indian art and crafts as part of culture rather than just technical education and industry. By 1891, Lord Reay (then Governor of Bombay) brought about the erection of Applied Art Section known as the Reay Art Workshops, which today encompass the Arts and Crafts Department. Thus, five distinct departments of Drawing and Painting, Sculpture and Modelling, Architecture, Reay Art Workshop for Art and Crafts and Applied Arts were brought under one roof of Sir J.J. School of Art, Bombay.

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