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The colour of the object illuminated partakes of the colour of that which illuminates it. Da Vinci. Indian arts and crafts with traditions immersed in religious beliefs go back thousands of years, withstanding the ravages of time and innumerable foreign invasions. Assimilative in nature, Indian artworks continue to flourish in a happy blending of Indian traditions with foreign ideas, incorporating them in the Indian arts and crafts. From pottery, weaving, wood and stone carving, jewellery making, paintings, Indian arts and crafts have few parallels in the world of art. Based in socio-economic and regional factors, ancient Indian arts and crafts flourish due to their utilitarian nature and easy availability to the common people.
But, the loss of royal patronage, post-independence resulted in a scattered and fragmented Indian contemporary art and artworksindustry. The intervention of art galleries, museum showings and online art collection auctions selling Indian contemporary art has led to a rising demand for famous artwork and Indian art pictures from the sub-continent. Many collectors of Indian contemporary art, who made canny acquisitions of unfashionable original artwork, find they are a part of framed art collections consisting of famous artwork from India, today. A 1950's Crucifixion contemporary art painting by F.N. Souza bought for £6,000/- by one of London's art galleries has caught the eye of Vatican and, may well become part of its art collection . As an art dealer whose art collection consists of many Souza artworks, said: People used to laugh at the paintings. It was something xenophobic. In the late '80s I couldn't give them away." Things have changed dramatically for Indian contemporary art as 2004 saw a 50's contemporary art painting by Souza sell for $183,000/- in an auction held by one of the online art galleries.
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When I've painted a woman's bottom so that I want to touch it, then the painting is finished. Renoir. Newly rich Indians, the wealthy, young NRI entrepreneurs are increasingly turning to Indian contemporary art. They buy Indian contemporary art because it has an emotional richness combined with brush strokes of hot, passionate colours reminiscent of an ancestral ethos, status symbols that are also an investment in their future. They mainly focus on Indian contemporary art done by Souza, Mehtaand, Hussain who fused traditional Indian art with western modernism for their art collection. And, it is not only the Diaspora that is evincing a strong interest in Indian contemporary art, 2-years ago, Masanori Fukuoka, a Japanese paid $317,500 for a triptych by Mehta for his Indian art pictures, museum art collection in Osaka.
The heat for Indian contemporary art shows no signs of abating and it is not the Diaspora alone that continues to fuel it. There are international buyers like Roland Emmerich, Hollywood director and Christopher Davidge, formerly Chief Executive of Christie, now living in India after breaking the scandal about auction price-fixing indulged in by American authorities. And, Guru Srivastava, a Bombay businessman recently commissioned 89-year old Hussain to paint 100-artworks that he will, perhaps, add to his corporate art collections. Paid $22-million by Srivastava, one waits with bated breath to see the outcome of the artist's creative genius.
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I have simply wished to assert the reasoned and independent feeling of my own individuality within a total knowledge of tradition. Matisse. India, a constant source for framed art collections from original artwork and reproductions of European grand masters, no longer reproduces copyrighted artworks. Suppliers of framed art collections to art galleries with a side-business in supplying reproductions along with original artwork are now creating original or replications of Mughal and Rajasthan subjects that do not require licensing. These companies are vociferous in their claim that 60% of their output is original artwork.
Those who do not want to imitate anything, produce nothing. Salvador Dali. Often, a company releases 4 or more original artwork designs per month along with framed art collections that are reproductions of French, Italian or Florentine themes. Indian Government's Export Promotion Council for Handicrafts claims that since importation of printed designs from Spain, Canada, Italy, Germany, USA, Taiwan etc. was made duty free for Indian framers, overseas buyers have indicated a preference for sourcing framed art collections from India, a business that is growing rapidly. The framers import Italian frames, sculpted wooden frames, lacquered wood frames, painted frames, metal frames; and embellish them with gold and silver leaf, Swarovski crystals, jewellery in-lay artworks set on a marble, silk (tussar and brocade), paper, suede or canvas base.
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With major changes in attitudes and perceptions, it is an upbeat time for Indian contemporary art in the corporate art sector. As corporate buyers become selective and more knowledgeable about art, corporate art collections are viewed as a part of the company's overall image. Perhaps, no one has realized that some of the most extraordinary corporate art collections are to be found in hotels. The Westin Maui Hotel, Hawaii owns an art collection that originated in India, China, Japan, Thailand, Korea, Burma, Bali, Cambodia, England, France and Italy. As did, Wyndham Anatole Hotel in Texas, USA with one of a kind artworks that once graced royal palaces of monarchs from India, Japan, China, Southeast Asia and Europe.
Host to royalty and high society glitterati, Taj Mumbaisince its' inception has amassed paintings and artworks including a number of M.F. Hussains and Laxman Shresthas. R ecently Times of India broke a story about a Hussain found languishing in the storeroom of Taj Mumbai'sart collection . A Hussain that none of Taj's higher echelons knew about, a Hussain that might have remained in a state of banishment, relegated to the dark corners of little frequented areas. But, the fact that the demand for a Hussain is higher than the supply; has ensured that this particular Hussain will be brought out into the light for display . Some of the art galleries who bought Hussains when no one wanted them can make their fortunes and retire if the desire overtakes them, just on the strength of a single sale. And, as Creativity takes courage. Matisse, we hope that Mr. Hussain continues to paint in his earlier form attracting the spotlight such as his naked Saraswati : What I am seeking is not the real and not the unreal but rather the unconscious, the mystery of the instinctive in the human race. Modigliani .
As the Indian summer for Indian contemporary art begins, it is an earnest prayer for India's artists to continue infusing their art creations with the quintessence of their primal consciousness as: Where the spirit does not work with the hand there is no art. Da Vinci.
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