The Global Gamble ; It has Paid Off, with Some of the Most Exciting Works by the Younger Generation of Indian Artists Being Shown in Leading Us Art Galleries

Summary

---

In 1982, my husband drove all the way to Canada to visit a gallery in Montreal that had expressed some interest in a painting we owned. When he returned from the trip, we re-hung the six-foot M.F. Husain painting dated 1954; he had decided not to part with it for the paltry sum offered. And it is just as well since prices have gone up some 50 to 100 fold. Today the market in contemporary Indian art is booming, with regular auctions held in New York, London, and Singapore by both the renowned auction houses, Christie's and Sotheby's. Witness the $300,000 (Rs 1.35 crore) paid at an auction for Tyeb Mehta's Santiniketan Triptych last year and the truly astounding $1.54 million (Rs 6.8 crore) for his Mahishasura a couple of months back. Even allowing for the fact that this latest price probably does not set a new benchmark but reflects a temporary aberration in auction buying, there is no doubt that modern Indian art has finally arrived.

There was a time when no galleries in New York handled contemporary Indian art and auction houses dealt only with the art of pre-modern India. Today, no less than three New York galleries specialise in work from India, putting on solo exhibitions of individual artists whom they fly out for openings that are accompanied by lecture series, cocktail evenings and a range of discussion soirees. The creation of successful western contemporary artists on the New York scene was certainly the result of aggressive promotion by New York gallery owners, with support from critics and museum curators and it continues to be so.

See the full content of this document

Extract

---

The Global Gamble ; It has Paid Off, with Some of the Most Exciting Works by the Younger Generation of Indian Artists Being Shown in Leading Us Art Galleries

Taking a page from that well-worn book, groups of young, enthusiastic, and committed Indians invested in the new art gallery business. Initially it was clearly difficult to create a new clientele and those of us watching the determination of the new galleries fe...

See the full content of this document

---