Christie’s goes beyond the India of cliches, plans a range of auctions

Going under the name of India at Christie’s, the series of seven auctions, begins with Visions of India on October 5. This is a Raj nostalgia sale comprising the works of artists during British rule, from 18th century to the early 20th Century. On offer are a range of oils, drawings, watercolours, prints, illustrated books and photographs by western and Company school artists.

While Visions of India has elephants aplenty, the Twentieth Century Indian Art includes elephant-free works by contemporary artists like J Swaminathan, Ram Kumar, Bhupen Khakar, Ganesh Pyne, F N Souza, K K Hebbar, Jogen Chowdhury, Anjolie Ela Menon and Atul Dodiya. `The choice of artists to be valid in terms of an auction depends on how much recognition they have in their own country. And this is the criteria we have followed,’ says Dean in an interview with The Indian Express.

Dean himself specialises in 2Oth Century Indian art. A study of Hinduism and Buddhism in an undergraduate course at Cambridge set him on the road to Indian art. `I did dissertation on Indian temple sculpture with an emphasis on Shiva,’ says Dean. This was followed up by a post-graduate course in the School of Oriental and African Studies, London, where he studied a broad spectrum of Indian painting beginning with the Rajputana and Pahari miniatures and coming to early 20th Century art.

`A special feature of the sale is the inclusion of a large number of Kalighat School paintings of late 19th Century with a view to link tradition to the contemporary,” says Dean. When asked why contemporary Indian art is less recognised in the international market, Dean replies, `This is so because contemporary Indian art is relatively less promoted in its own country.’ However, he adds that the situation is improving and it is attracting more buyers abroad. But are the buyers only non-resident Indians? Deans says: `It was so when Christie’s began its sale of 20th Century Indian art in 1994 but now others are also collecting Indian art.’

As for his own Indian experience of some 18 months, Dean says `I am enjoying every moment of it.’ He also has an old connection, for his father lived in India in his childhood as his grand-father was in the Royal Indian Army. And he insists it is not the old tie which makes him think that there is a virtual boom in the demand for contemporary Indian art. `Besides us, Sotheby’s has been dealing in the line and now Bonham’s has joined in too,’ he says.