Well within your means
SANGEETA BAROOAH PISHAROTY
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You appreciate works of art but can’t afford them? Why not go for their prints? Here are some inexpensive options.
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Take your pick From the masters to young artists, there are enough options for you in art prints available at affordable prices.
With Indian art now fetching millions in the international market, buying even a considerably young artist’s work can leave you with a veritable hole in the pocket. It looks like if in the ancient times, the artists worked for the kings, today&
#8217;s legion is largely working only for those who can match their high price tags. Tags that hotels, corporate houses and a select few individuals can pick up, though that need not always mean these buyers are connoisseurs of good art.
So, with commercialism progressively making a foray into our art world, does it mean art is now gradually being produced only for those who can afford it? Art for price’s sake? The debate can continue but meanwhile, where does this leave those who appreciate works of art, want to acquire these milestones of contemporary history but can’t afford them? A trip across the major art galleries of New Delhi will introduce you to the ground reality. You are lucky if you get a considerably young artist’s work with a sum of say, Rs.10,000 in your hand. The less you can afford, the more luck you need.
After such a fruitless trip to the city’s art galleries, one checks out a few addresses in the hope of finding affordable art. The first stop is the usual suspect: Lalit Kala Akademi. It houses a section displaying its valuable journals, artists’ portfolios, books on Indian art history and contemporary trends, etc. And interestingly, feeding one’s present interest, it also sells art prints of names like Jahangir Sabavala, M.F. Husain, Anjolie Ela Menon, K.S. Kulkarni, Suhas Roy, Bikash Bhattacharjee, Ganesh Pyne to name just a few. Most of their prints come in a bunch of 10, and the prices start at Rs.200! It also has an “ancient series” which includes 6th Century mural paintings, Ajanta cave paintings, paintings of Kerala’s old temples, Rajput paintings, etc. On high quality treated paper, many of which give the aged look to match the originals. All at a nominal price.
Also, there are limited edition replicas of sculptures made by masters like Himmat Shah, Sankho Chaudhari, etc. (for Rs.35000), besides paintings by Munnusamy, etc. reproduced on mugs, at Rs.50 per piece!
Says Sudhakar Sharma, the Akademi’s Secretary, “The aim behind this counter is to make art pieces affordable to the masses.” Picking up a copy of Art Directory, recently compiled, Sharma says, “Each directory has cost us Rs.1400. Yet we are selling it for Rs.500, only to make it possible for people to buy it easily.” The counter discourages bulk selling “because if a genuine person wants a piece of art, we should be able to offer it to him.” Giving an example of big art houses siphoning off the pieces, he talks of two famous art houses which picked up, by and by, all the 25 limited edition replicas of Himmat Shah’s sculptures. “And now we hear that they are being resold for Rs.5 lakh each.” Pointing at “our weak copyright laws”, he lifts his hands in helplessness.
Sad at the state of affairs, bundling two souvenir mugs for Rs.100, and ten prints of Satish Gujral’s paintings for Rs.300 (!), one heads for the National Gallery of Modern Art, the veritable temple of our contemporary art pieces. While the priceless original paintings dangle for the appreciation of visitors, hall after hall, most of their prints are available at a sales counter. These precious paintings have also been reproduced on greeting cards at Rs. 10 each.
As you flip through the huge collection of prints that start at Rs.30 and runs up to Rs.75, the salesman introduces you to the latest collection: ten huge prints comprising works of Jamini Roy, Amrita Shergill, M. Chugtai, Raja Ravi Varma, etc. It doesn’t take much time to pick a few greeting cards with paintings of Hemen Mazumdar, Jamini Roy, M.V. Dhurandhar, Nandalal Bose, etc. Plus a Raja Ravi Varma for Rs.75!
Young artists
Talking of art prints, one discovers that not only are the reproductions of museum pieces available as affordable art, but those of young artists too are vying for buyers’ attention. Art Warehouse, a shop on the city’s busy Ajmal Khan Road, is one such address. It boasts of art prints “of the works of young artists on our panel”. These prints, though, start at Rs.3500.
Besides these shops, some surfing on the Internet opens a wide world of buying possibilities, from prints of contemporary artists to those of the masters, continent-wise. Take a look: a Van Gogh for 12 dollars, a da Vinci for 10 dollars, Henri De Toulouse-Lautrec’s Moulin Rouge for eight dollars, Michelangelo’s Pieta and Picasso’s Old Guitarist for 10 dollars each! If you are not surfing international sites like artgator.com or art.com, etc., there are many Indian sites like Indiaart.com to choose from for Indian art prints.
Well then, if you can’t chase the price race, don’t just give up in despair, but go for the prints. For art is art, isn’t it?
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