Art-World Buzz Is India And Its Progressives
At Christie's New York auction last September, Indian painter Tyeb Mehta's "Celebration" went for a whopping $317,500, or about �257,747, while 89-year-old maestro Maqbool Fida Husain sold his painting "Bulls" for $107,550.
At Sotheby's Holdings Inc.'s March auction in New York, the late Francis Newton Souza's "Mystic Repast" sold for $153,600. In Hong Kong, 76-year-old Akbar Padamsee's "Head" brought in $68,000 at Christie's International PLC's March auction. And in May, 82-year-old abstract painter Sayed Haider Raza's "Bindu Bija-Mantra" sold for a domestic-record 6.8 million rupees, or about �121,000, in an auction on Saffronart.com, an art portal based in Mumbai, India.
Meanwhile, all of this attention to India's Modern art has inspired thieves and forgers, as well. In the latest in a string of heists, burglars in May made off with more than 30 canvases stocked at a New Delhi gallery. Earlier, two paintings sold by a Mumbai gallery as the work of the revered painter Anjolie Ela Menon were found to be forgeries.
While the discovery has shaken the Indian art scene, gallery owners say these are merely the growing pains of a budding art industry.
Why now? The obvious answer, in India, is the economy. But as the Christie's and Sotheby's auctions demonstrate, international interest in Indian art is also blossoming. With documentation standards rapidly coming to match Western measures and with art galleries and Web sites proliferating, the lure of high returns on bargain prices is drawing the art world closer than ever to India.
Foreign interest began to register in the mid-1990s, with auctions by Christie's and Sotheby's and international exhibitions, says Mallika Sagar, Christie's representative in India. Since then, business has taken off, helped along by several international exhibitions, a greater openness in India's markets and a relaxation of strict foreign-exchange rules.
The Internet, too, has been a big factor and is the reason the process in India is now more transparent, says Dinesh Vazirani, founder of Saffronart.com. These days, buyers have ready access to India art-market data, which can drive home art's value as an investment. Mr. Vazirani estimates that Indian art prices have increased about 20% during the past 40 years.
So far, most of the works fetching top prices are by artists from the Progressive Group, which emerged at the time of India's independence in 1947 and began the Modernist movement in India. The group's founding members -- and today's top sellers -- include Messrs. Souza, Raza and Husain, as well as the late Krishnaji Howlaji Ara and Hari Ambadas Gade. The second-generation members include Messrs. Mehta and Padamsee, and Ram Kumar. Like Europe's Modernists, the Progressives rebelled against traditional techniques. "Today we paint with absolute freedom for content and technique," reads the group's 1948 manifesto.
Apart from its intrinsic qualities, art by the Progressive Group is increasing in value as the members age and their productivity wanes. Several members have died in recent years, and many of those that remain are in their 70s and 80s. Another reason for the increased value is that the profile of buyers has changed, Mr. Vazirani says. Since the late 1990s, more young buyers have emerged with more-daring tastes.
Among their biggest customers are nonresident Indians. "They have accumulated wealth, and art seems to be a bridge to them to their home country," Mr. Vazirani says. Ms. Sagar agrees. She says nonresident Indians are the strongest sector of the market in terms of numbers and dollars spent, and notes important collectors live in the U.S., Britain, Hong Kong and Singapore. But interest isn't limited to ethnic Indians. The buyer of Mr. Mehta's Celebration, for instance, wasn't of Indian origin.
Beyond the Progressives, gallery owners are excited about artists like 67-year-old Arpita Singh, who is concerned with female identity, and Anjolie Ela Menon, who was trained in Mumbai and at the Ecole Nationale Suprieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Younger buyers, looking for investments that could potentially generate a high return for a smaller initial outlay, are paying "aggressive" prices for works by artists who are now in their 30s and 40s, says Mr. Vazirani.
If other Asian markets are any indication, this current surge could be just the beginning for Indian art. While big names like the Progressives are still hovering around the $100,000 barrier, Christie's Ms. Sagar points out that their counterparts in the older art markets of the region -- like China and Southeast Asia -- are selling works for $250,000 to $750,000.
印度艺术品炙手可热
在佳士得拍卖公司(Christie's)去年9月的纽约拍卖会上，印度画家泰伯?梅赫塔(Tyeb Mehta)的《Celebration》拍出了317,500美元的高价，同时89岁的大师马克布勒?菲达?侯赛因(Maqbool Fida Husain)的牛画以107,550美元卖出。但事情还不止于此。在苏富比拍卖公司(Sotheby's)今年3月的纽约拍卖会上，已故的弗朗西斯?牛顿?苏扎(Francis Newton Souza)的《Mystic Repast》拍出了153,600美元。在更接近本土的地方，76岁的阿克巴尔?帕丹希(Akbar Padamsee)的《Head》在佳士得3月份的香港拍卖会上以68,000美元卖出。5月份，82岁的抽象画家赛义德?海德尔?拉扎(Sayed Haider Raza)的作品则创下了印度国内拍卖的新高，其《Bindu Bija-Mantra》在孟买艺术门户网站和贸易公司Saffronart.Com的网上拍卖中拍出了680万印度卢比（合147,800美元）。
随著有6位印度艺术家的作品价值超过了10万美元，梁上君子和仿制者蜂拥而至。最新的一起盗窃案发生在5月中旬，入室盗窃者将Sahitya Kala Parishad的新德里画廊中收藏的30多幅油画从画框中卷走，并逃之夭夭。之前，孟买某画廊出售的据称是受人尊敬的64岁画家安若利?埃拉?梅农(Anjolie Ela Menon)的两幅作品被发现是仿制品。这震动了印度艺术界。但画廊所有者称，这是艺术产业成长过程中的烦恼，因为印度还缺乏发达市场中的艺术作品档案资料。而这些意外事件具有金钱所不能带来的效果，让印度艺术作品成为了多重意义上的“热门资产”。
印度艺术品为什么在现在如此受宠？在印度，显而易见的答案是：经济。中产阶级群体正在迅速扩大，可支配收入也较从前有了增加。而且，新德里瓦德拉(Vadehra)画廊的索妮娅?巴勒内(Sonia Ballaney)称，“还有经济状况更好的中上层阶层，他们的收藏意识和兴趣更高。”
但正如佳士得和苏富比的拍卖所显示的那样，国际上对印度艺术的兴趣也正在升温。佳士得印度代表毛里加?萨加(Mallika Sagar)称：“国际市场对印度艺术品的兴趣萌发于20世纪90年代佳士得和苏富比在伦敦和纽约举行的拍卖会上。”自那以后，佳士得、苏富比以及几家小型拍卖行开始频频在国际市场上拍卖印度艺术品，更多的画廊和博物馆也纷纷举办画展。
Saffronart.com的创始人迪纳什?瓦齐拉尼(Dinesh Vazirani)表示，“在过去5年里，举行了许多国际性展览”，这使得国际上对印度艺术的认识得到了很大提高。海外印度裔人群“已经积累了大量财富，艺术品似乎成为了他们与祖国相连的桥梁。”
萨加表示同意，并称，无论从数量还是金额来说，海外印度裔人群都成为了市场中印度艺术品的购买主力。他指出，在美国、英国、香港和新加坡都有重要的收藏家。不过，购买兴趣并不仅限于印度裔人群，比如梅赫塔《 Celebration》的买家就不是印度后裔。
市场开放程度的提高也促进了艺术产业的发展。萨加称，过去收藏家发现很难买到印度艺术品，因为印度国内艺术界基本上处于一种私下交易的状况。严格的外汇管制也抑制了艺术品的收购。“现在（买家）可以在公开市场上接触到艺术作品。过程更加透明，他们可以察看高质量的作品，购买后的存放和运输也很简单。
瓦齐拉尼称，互联网在提高交易透明度中扮演了重要角色，买家可以通过互联网接触到各类数据，也正是这些数据让印度艺术品的投资价值与日俱增。由于艺术界中收藏家的数量通常会多于鉴赏家，对印度艺术品的推崇至少在一定程度上是受财务回报的推动，这也毫不奇怪。
“确确实实的公开拍卖数据，使人们相信这是一项好投资，”瓦齐拉尼表示，“过去40年，印度艺术品（的价格）年复合增长率为20%左右。许多财富管理公司和我们接洽，以确定将多少比例的客户资金投资于艺术，就像投资于大宗商品或股票一样。”
迄今为止，几乎所有已接近或突破10万美元价格的艺术作品均出自进步主义流派(Progressive Group)的艺术家。这个流派兴起于1947年印度宣告独立之时，并成为印度现代主义运动的开端。这个流派的创立者包括很多名人，如苏扎、拉扎、侯赛因、已故的克里希那吉?霍拉吉?阿拉(Krishnaji Howlaji Ara)和哈里?安巴达斯?加德(Hari Ambadas Gade)，他们均寻求脱离现实主义。第二代成员包括梅赫塔、帕丹希和拉姆?库马尔(Ram Kumar)，他们在20世纪期七十、八十年代将风景画转变成了抽象画。瓦齐拉尼称，价值上升的另一个原因是买家发生了变化。自从二十世纪90年代以来，越来越多年轻的买家涌现，他们的品位大胆，乐于接受新的风格。
除了进步主义流派，关注女性独立性的、67岁的阿尔皮塔?辛格(Arpita Singh)，以及在孟买和巴黎国立美术高等学院(Ecole Nationale Superieure des Beaux-Arts)受过教育的安若利?埃拉?梅农的作品也令画廊主人们兴奋不已。同样受人关注的的还有具魔幻现实主义风格的乔根?乔杜里(Jogen Chowdhury)和作品售价25,000美元的K?G?苏布拉马尼扬(K.G. Subramanyan)。瓦齐拉尼称，年轻一些的买家搜寻那些未来可能有高回报、但初始投资不大的作品，他们“大胆地”为目前三、四十岁的艺术家的作品买单。
在印度以外地区，纽约的塔瓦尔(Talwar)画廊向全球的当代艺术欣赏者推广前卫的印度艺术家，大博物馆和西方艺术收藏家都是它的客户。六年前在曼哈顿开立了塔瓦尔画廊的迪帕克?塔瓦尔(Deepak Talwar)表示，“艺术必须基于自身，与全球艺术欣赏者展开更为广泛的对话，而不要受限于创作者的国籍。”塔瓦尔指出，印度艺术家的表现方式，如纳斯林?穆罕默德(Nasreen Mohamedi)的极简抽象主义，穿越文化阻隔与许多事情发生共鸣，加上其并不昂贵的价格，为印度艺术品在西方赢得了一大批追随者。而所有展出作品的总价可能仅及西方同时代人的一件作品。塔瓦尔画廊吸引的主要是非印度裔参观者，甚至是一些知名博物馆的馆长，包括惠特尼美国艺术博物馆(The Whitney Museum of American Art)、史密森博物馆(Smithsonian Museum)、The Hirschorn Museum和当代艺术博物馆(The Museum of Modern Art)。
如果参照其他亚洲市场的发展历程，现在还只是个开始。据佳士得的萨加称，印度进步主义流派大师的作品目前售价仍徘徊在10万美元左右，而亚洲其他发展时间较长的艺术市场中大师的作品在25万至75万美元。中国和东南亚的艺术作品要价更高，萨加称，“因为他们进入拍卖的时间要大大早于印度艺术品，而且有印尼和中国收藏家长期的强力支持。”这对印度艺术收藏家是个好趋势。
