Indian Art, a Global Affair
Posted by Clare DeBoer on January 26, 2010
With galleries and museums showcasing the works of India’s brightest young stars and ancient treasures, Indian art is front and centre this month in London. In 2005 Indian art turned heads, as the market began to skyrocket and prices for Indian art works reached record highs at international auction; investing in Indian art became a surefire way to earn serious returns. In 2005 Tyeb Mehta’s Mahisasura became the first work of Modern Indian art to break the million-dollar mark, selling for $1,584,000 and surpassing the previous record of $317,000 which had been held since 2002. With the onset of the financial crisis, many feared that the Indian art market, which had gained steam so rapidly, would crash. It proved its resilience however, when Christie's auction house sold masterpiece, Birth, by F. N. Souza for over $2.5 million in the second half of the year. Whereas price milestones were previously one-time and long-held, it has become commonplace for works to fetch figures in the millions and for numerous records to be broken and reset in a single auction. Moreover, Indian artists have been receiving more international attention than ever before; what’s on in London is a case in point.
Anish Kapoor's solo exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts earned him the title of “one of the most influential and pioneering sculptors of his generation” (royalacademy.org). This week the Whitechapel gallery opened landmark exhibition, Where Three Dreams Cross: 150 Years of Photography from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, giving an inside view of how modern South Asia has been shaped through the lens of its photographers. Next week The Saatchi Gallery opens exhibition The Empire Strikes Back: Indian Art Today, showcasing a range of contemporary artists who are part of Charles Saatchi’s collection. The Victoria and Albert’s exhibition, Maharaja: the Splendor of India’s Royal Courts, which closed last week, explored the extraordinary culture of princely India through art.
Increased visibility and awareness of Indian art on the global stage is peaking both interest and prices in the field. Awaiting the auction houses' Asia week sales in March, the future for Indian art seems bright as the London art crowd heads east to get a glimpse of Mumbai through Raghu Rai's lens, and Brown University brings exhibition M.F. Husain: Early Masterpieces, 1950s-1970s, to campus on February 5th.
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