Quality books and documentations courtesy leading galleries

Several quality books and documentations initiatives are now entering the public domain thanks to concerted efforts by India’s renowned galleries and art institutions. This is welcome since our art scene still clearly lacks in documentation. Art practices as independent individual or community efforts have not been recorded as they should have been. However, things are taking a positive turn, gradually.

Significantly, the world’s leading museums like Tate Modern has started holding books on contemporary Indian art, symbolizing the rising interest in it. Ashoke Nag of The ET Bureau had elaborated on this trend in a news article previously to point out how publishing has now become a major activity for the leading art market players. There are several other galleries now vigorously following the trend and coming with interesting publications.

The informative article revealed how new and existing publications on art trends are now a major activity for many leading galleries and institutions. For example, The Vadehra Art Gallery in New Delhi regularly produces more than a dozen books that cover a range of topics, including historical books on art making, monographs of artists, picture books and an art directory. It conceptualizes these books in collaboration with artists. The aim is to make them as vital historical and research documents.

Aakriti has published several monograph on Jogen Chowdhury, Sekhar Roy, Tapas Konar and Satish Gujral. Akar Prakar too has released books on artists Sanat Kar, Sarbari Roy Chowdhury and Amitabha Banerjee, with a couple more in the pipeline. Other galleries to follow the trend are Sanskriti Art Gallery, Galerie 88, Delhi Art Gallery and CIMA that are already into book publications.

For the top galleries venturing into art publishing, the plans are far-reaching and extensive, as the galleries are casting the net wider, literally and virtually. The demand for such publications is now good as the Indian art has grown in stature and the demand has picked up again, naturally linked to the international art market trends.