Market needs to reassess the Bengal School artists

With the death of legendary icon MF Husain earlier this month, Indian art has lost its most maverick and popular market maker, so to say. Indeed, there is no second opinion about the fact that Husain played a pivotal role to bring Indian art and artists into the reckoning globally in the last few decades. And with his knock and foot on the door, he was successful in building a niche for other members of Progressive Group artists (PAG) abroad.

Not only did he himself surpass the million dollar mark in auction sales, other renowned Progressives such as SH Raza, Tyeb Mehta, FN Souza, VS Gaitonde, Akbar Padamsee among others also reached these amazing heights. In fact, if one put aside these masterly Modernists, there are not many contemporaries who have hovered near the million dollar auction sales tag and whether they will manage to remain perched there, only times ahead will tell us.

In this context, art writer Ashoke Nag of The Economic Times mentions in an interesting news story that it is necessary for the market to reassess the Bengal School artists. The writer explains: “What is really interesting is that most Bengal masters used to once score quite highly at international art auctions, especially in the mid 80s and early 90s. These included noteworthy names like Hemen Mazumdar, Jamini Roy, Nandalal Bose, the Tagores and subsequent Bengal masters like Ganesh Pyne, Somnath Hore and Jogen Chowdhury."

However, as Ashoke Nag points out, their work seldom reached the dizzy price levels that were effortlessly achieved by the PAG artists. In an international auction in New York, which coincided with the 9/11 terrorist attacks, a painting by Hemen Mazumdar achieved among the tallest prices for Indian art ever in the sale. Husain also used to admire many Bengal masters, so there needs to be a better reassessment of the Bengal School particularly in the context of the Indian art’s Indianness.