On Foreign Shores

Chagall’s Prophétie d’Abdias

Damiano Femfert is a dejected man. Even as the prospect of dismantling, packing and shipping most of the unsold European masterpieces back to Frankfurt looms large over him, Femfert talks about his stint with the India Art Fair with a tinge of bitterness. “I was amazed that collectors didn’t buy an original Chagall for less than Rs 50 lakh. We had Picasso lithographs for less than Rs 10 lakh, which also weren’t sold. The orgainsers should have done a better job of talking about us and the kind of work we have brought,” says Femfret, of DIE gallery.
If there was one grouse that most international galleries had against the organising committee of the sixth edition of the India Art Fair, it’s the way they were sidelined when it came to publicity. Baudoin Lebon from the Baudoin Lebon Galerie, Paris, talked about how gallery-collector mixers could have been arranged. “We didn’t know who the important collectors were. We didn’t even interact with the press. How will people know about the work we bring?”asks Lebon.
There is also this logistical problem that foreign galleries face. Apparently, a customs law prohibits them from making direct transactions. “When a foreign gallery sells an artwork of a foreign artist in India, it has to be shipped back to the country of origin and then again sent to the purchaser. This makes things tedious. They should declare the Art Fair a duty free zone, like China has,” says Charlie Moore of Grosvenor Gallery, London.
Neha Kirpal, Founder-Director, India Art Fair, says, “Galleria Continua from Italy hardly had any sales their first time. But their next time turned out to be better. It’s a question of engaging with Indian collectors and buyers. International galleries will find that by their second or third time, the collectors and buyers are familiar with them and their works. It’s a slow process of outreach, but it works.”
Gallerist Jerome Poggi from Paris, who had brought French contemporary artist Bertrand Lamarche’s solo, did not sell anything, but there’s a similar air of optimism. “Since the beginning, Bertrand’s works were one of the highlights of the fair. Even though none of the works have been sold, a lot of interest has come from museums and galleries. Also, if not now, something can come about even a month from now, or later,” he says.