When Amrita Sher-Gil’s oil on canvas, The Story Teller, went under the hammer for ₹61.8 crore at Saffronart last month, many records were set. It was the highest-ever bid for a painting by an Indian, and an Indian woman artist (though Sher-Gil was a Sikh-Hungarian painter who died in 1941, at the age of 28).
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This now makes her the first Indian woman Modern artist to challenge the long-held position of a male-dominated art market. The Story Teller belongs to her transition from post-impressionist-inspired work that she painted after Paris, to a more Indian approach inspired by her study of miniatures and the cave paintings at Ajanta and Ellora. Sher-Gil described the work as one of her favourites and, importantly, it was one of the few works she painted outside her studio.
This record-breaking event came 10 days after Modernist Syed Haider Raza’s Gestation fetched ₹51.7 crore at Pundole’s auction. It featured his signature ‘Bindu’, now the second-most expensive Indian artwork; abstractionist V.S. Gaitonde’s comes in third.
Amrita Sher-Gil | Photo Credit: Wiki Commons
“The Story Teller is a rare piece, as very few Sher-Gil works of this era [1937] are in private hands,” says Dinesh Vazirani, the CEO of Saffronart. “Most of her major oil-on-canvas works are national treasures and belong to the permanent collection of public museums, which is why when a work of this quality comes into the art market it fetches the kind of price it did.”
The sale of Sher-Gil’s work bodes well for women artists who are often left out of the top billing monopolised by male artists the world over; when the art market is doing well at the auctions, it has a trickle down effect at the gallery and individual sales level for these artists. But there is another question: how does this help contemporary artists?
Syed Haider Raza | Photo Credit: Raza Foundation
Enter multimedia
While most in the Indian art market are overjoyed by the new record, a small percentage observes that a penchant for the icons and rising prices at auctions might hinder true talent from coming to the fore: all the big funding gets allocated to the Modern artists, and investments towards the young contemporaries are far less. The preference is for oil on canvas by Modern artists, leaving other forms of artistic expression in the cold. Institutions supporting performance art, street art, installations and ephemera find it hard to promote these alternative art forms. This is in contrast to multimedia artists around the globe, such as Damien Hirst and Judy Chicago when they were young and, currently, artists such as Curtis Santiago and Han Bing.
“Who is going to promote young talent?” asks artist Suresh Jayaram, founder member of 1 Shanti Road, Bengaluru, a not-for-profit art space. He believes that while it is common knowledge that contemporary Indian art is patronised by the elite, “it can be democratic and made accessible”. For instance, by encouraging local auctions that promote art under ₹1 lakh, and college art fairs that promote young artists. It makes their art known and accessible; and once they get into the market, depending on their talent and a little luck, they can climb the ladder to better pricing and visibility.
Suresh Jayaram | Photo Credit: 1Shanthiroad
Gopal Mirchandani, a Mumbai-based writer on art and culture, and a collector of contemporary and tribal art, believes that “when tides rise, opportunities look good for all those who are well-known. However, for those who are young, it is still very difficult. The pyramidal structure of a market-led art scene makes it hard for other critically-acclaimed artists to gain interest and support”.
India’s top seven young, contemporary artists, who have a good public visibility — Aman Khanna,·Anirban Mitra, Astha Butail, Meenakshi Sengupta, Parul Gupta, Prabhakar Pachpute and Prajakta Potnis — do have to take risks and struggle. Satadru Sovan, a mid-career performance artist and painter has trouble getting funds for his performance.
“The focus needs to be on art, rather than the market, and I find many mid-career artists and young talent getting swayed into following trends, rather than focusing on their artwork,” says Mirchandani.
That said, Bhavna Kakar, founder of Latitude 28 gallery in Delhi, believes that the market is doing rather well. But does that imply a direct impact on a mid-career artist exhibiting in a private gallery?
“There are collectors who have an interest in both Modern artists and contemporaries as they see value in investing in art,” says Kakar. “My encouragement to art enthusiasts and collectors is to invest in pieces they genuinely love. This way, they can relish their artwork regardless of market fluctuations, and over time, they may be appreciated both monetarily and aesthetically.
Bhavna Kakar | Photo Credit: Latitude 28
“The gallery, museum, art critic and the art community would have to create more discerning audiences who are thinking. Art is for everyone and it holds a mirror to our society. It is not only the wine and cheese openings but open-ended conversations in chai addas!” adds Jayaram.
Indian art and the world
Meanwhile, young Indian artists are being received well abroad. “The contemporary art market has strong interest, both curatorially and from collectors from all over the world,” says Roshini Vadehra, director of Vadehra Art Gallery. She observes that artists are regularly invited to participate in the world’s most important biennales such as Venice and Gwangju.
“The interest is now extending to younger and emerging artists, and not just the top names. With frequent participation in international art fairs, an exposure is created among collectors and curators. We have been participating in fairs in London, Dubai, Hong Kong, Seoul, Basel and Singapore, and the sales are robust with the international art community getting increasingly familiar with our artists and their practice,” she concludes.
The writer is a critic-curator by day, and a visual artist by night.
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