The past year was another remarkable one for Indian contemporary art on the global scene—the market remained strong as several auctions attested, and Indian artists made headlines internationally. Here is a monthly review of some of the news and events that were generated during the last twelve months. Let’s hope 2008 will continue to be great for everything Indian!
January: 
The auction market for Indian art alone was worth $150 million in 2006, up from $52 million the year before, according to Sonal Singh, director of Bodhi Art, which is based in New Delhi and also has galleries in Mumbai, New York, and Singapore.
21st – Three legendary Indian artists teamed up for a three-day show, their masterstrokes a call for world peace. S.H. Raza, M.F. Husain and Satish Gujral showcased the power of art to the world when their works were unveiled at UNESCO's global forum on the power of peace in Bali.
31st – Osian’s held their “Masterpieces and Museum-Quality Series” auction at the Taj Palace and Towers in Mumbai, with a VS Gaitonde oil selling for $1,307,900 and Amrita Sher-Gil’s “Girls in Conversation” going for $790,190. The sale kicked off the year with a total tally of over $9,000,000 USD.
February:
1st- The “International Modern & Contemporary Art” sale in Dubai continued the hot trend for Indian art with total sales at $9,417,560. PAG masters sold well as did the country’s “second tier” artists.
2nd - India and Russia signed a two-year cultural exchange program during Vladimir Putin’s visit of to India. The two countries will work towards development of cooperation in the field of fine arts, exchange of art exhibitions and works of folk art, as well as delegations of painters, handicraftsmen, art critics, and experts in traditional folk art.
15th - As a part of the several initiatives taken to raise funds for conserving nature and wildlife, the Bombay Natural History Society organized a Charity Auction of Contemporary Indian Art called Mission Greenscape. The collection was open to the public at the Jehangir Nicholson Gallery of Modern Art. The collection included works by artists such as Lalitha Lajmi, Manjit Bawa, Sunil Das, Vasudev Gaitonde, Akbar Padamsee, S H Raza, Paritosh Sen and many more.
22nd - Legendary Indian artist S. H. Raza returned to India from Paris to celebrate his 85th birthday. Weeklong celebrations were organized by the Raza Foundation, National Gallery of Modern Art, Art Alive Gallery and Alliance Francaise.
March:
21st - Christie’s held their spring New York auction, and although no works broke the million-dollar mark, prices remained solid for PAG oils on canvas—and did particularly well for their works on paper. Among the highlights at this auction, M. F. Husain’s Woman with Veena went for $132,000 with the money donated to Pratham UK and NGO charities aimed at eradicating illiteracy in India. Total sales were $8,593,080.
21st – New York City gallery TamarindArt and their invited guests marked their one-year anniversary as a full-time gallery with Pinnacle-Progressives, a rare exhibition from the private collection of owners Kent and Marguerite Charugundla featured works from the Progressive Artists Group.
22nd - At Sotheby’s NY, everything was coming up green—as in $15,007, 880 for the 172 lots up for bid. A majority of the works, which included miniatures and illustrations, sold at or over their pre-sale estimates, seemingly regardless of the artist or the medium.
24th - Christie's achieved total sales of $8.6 million in its New York auction of modern and contemporary Indian art. A V.S. Gaitonde Untitled work garnered the highest price at $768,000.
April:
An Artprice survey estimated that contemporary Indian art had made a progression of 480% over the past decade. Not surprisingly, works by F.N. Souza have appreciated the most dramatically over that period of time.19th – Bonham’s auction house announced it will open its first Middle East office in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, following Christies and Sotheby's, on growing demand for Arab and India art.
19th – TamarindArt, in cooperation with the Museum of Modern Art in New York, presented a unique exhibition featuring vintage Bollywood posters from a bygone era. The show, which ran until May 5th, was also in cooperation with India Now, which featured a film series of Indian cinema at MoMA.
May:
21st - The first of three May London Indian contemporary art auctions was held at Bonham’s, with bidders holding tightly to their wallets. Of the 152 lots up for the sale titled Modern and Contemporary Indian and Pakistani Paintings, one-third (51 total) were passed, with few others surpassing their pre-sale estimates.
21st - S. H. Raza’s oil on canvas La Terre sold for $1,418,539 USD, quickly followed by F.N. Newton’s Landscape with Planet, which went for $613,128, and his Untitled (Man with Collar) for $212,867 at Christie’s London sale, which raked in a very solid total of $8,808,205.
24th - Indian art sales hit a snag at Sotheby's where more than 38 works were withdrawn in the 166 lots. Works passed included those by V.S.Gaitonde, Tyeb Mehta, Raza, Husain, Anjolie Ela Menon, and other big names. “Second tier” artists, however, did well. Total sales figures topped out at $5.6 USD.
June:
24th - TamarindArt held an opening reception for one of their artists who had a solo exhibition at P.S.1 MoMA. Fuzzy Logic by Prema Murthy was organized by P.S.1 MoMA Director, Alanna Heiss
27-30 - Fifty-two watercolor paintings done by children from Sri Lanka who survived the Southeast Asia Tsunami of 2004 were offered for sale at the “AmeriCares Tsunami Art Benefit” at TamarindArt. All proceeds from the sale of these works went to benefit these children.
10th – M. F. Husain was the guest of honor at the opening of Images and Illusions
, an art exhibition at TamarindArt Gallery.11th - Sotheby’s held a special auction was held to raise awareness and funding for the construction of The Kolkata Museum of Modern Art. The mega-project is designated as the first national art museum in India, and whose mission will to collect, preserve and exhibit national and international works of fine art from the 18th century to contemporary art. The auction raised over $1.5 million.
August:
17th – “Gateway Bombay”, an exhibition at the Peabody Essex Museum opened to introduce uninitiated viewers to some of India's most celebrated modern and contemporary artists. Organized by the museum’s curator of South Asian and Korean art and a Bombay-based art historian, the show aimed to address the impact of one of India's biggest and busiest cities on artists who have lived, studied, and worked in the Indian city now known as Mumbai.
September:
19th - New York fall Indian art sales kicked off at Sotheby’s with no great surprises, as most pieces that were sold came in at their pre-estimated prices. The final total was $6,311,738, just under the estimated low end. Twenty-eight of the available 114 lots (25%) were not passed, including big-ticket works by VS Gaitonde, Ram Kumar, FN Souza, and Jogen Chowdhury.
19th - A major exhibition of photography and video art depicting contemporary India opened at Newark Museum in New Jersey. The show, titled “Public Places, Private Spaces: Contemporary Photography and Video Art”, comprised over 100 works by 28 photographers and video artists, reflecting the interior and exterior realities of today's India. The show will run until Jan 6, 2008.
20th - Buyers threw all caution to the wind during Christie’s NY auction, which brought in a total of $10,115,050. Of the 110 lots sold, 70% went down the hammer above their pre-sale estimates.
21st - Indian contemporary art auction at Sotheby’s wrapped up the week with mixed results of the 58 lots (featuring mostly the younger generation of Indian artists) up for sale. Just over half the offerings fell into pre-sale estimates or slightly above, with the final take today of $1,818,780.
23rd - New York City was brimming with free Indian music, folk dances and art exhibitions when the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and Ministry of Tourism organized India@60. The events, coinciding with the United Nations General Assembly, sought to attract the world’s attention
to India by portraying its strengths — democracy, diversity and demographics — which have powered the sub-continent’s development.24th – TamarindArt hosted an illustrated lecture and exhibition by renowned photographer Benoy K. Behl as part of Incredible India@60. The Ministry of Tourism & Ministry of Culture, Government of India, organized the celebration.
October:
11th – 14th - The Khoj Artists Association based in Delhi rubbed shoulders with 151 art galleries from across the world to showcase contemporary Indian art at the well-known Frieze Art Fair, an annual affair that takes place every October at the Regent Park, London. The fair offered a palette of works of over 1,000 artists from across the globe for visitors to see and buy.
26th - The top draw of the day at Bonham’s London Indian sale was a historic 19th century painting by Raja Ravi Varma that sold for nearly one million dollars. Contemporary works that also sold well were Amrita Sher Gil’s “Seated Girl”, along with paintings by Ganesh Haloi, F. N. Souza, and M.F. Husain.
November:
2nd – 3rd - Bypassing traditional art galleries and museums, the two-day All India Art Trade Fair in Delhi brought together 40 artists from across the country to showcase their work as well as sell them to collectors directly. The art fair gave a platform to emerging as well as veteran artists to display their work, as well as give customers an opportunity to interact with the artists.
15th - Artists from India and abroad converged at Delhi to raise awareness about rising social inequality in urban Indian cities. The group called Creative Conscience has been holding workshops and exhibitions on social themes since 2004.
27th – The BBC announced that noted English poet and writer Rudyard Kipling's birthplace in Mumbai is being converted into an art museum. The 100-year-old timber and stone two-story cottage, built more than 100 years ago, sits on the campus of the famed JJ School of Art in that city.
December:
1st – 2nd - Sixty pieces of art and handicraft went into an unusual exhibition at Gallery Art and Soul, Madhuli, in Worli -- half of the works were created by mentally challenged adults from the sheltered workshop Anchorage. Prominent JJ School of Art-trained artist Bhavana Shah's pieces were also showcased.
3rd – 102 paintings by contemporary Indian artists went under the hammer at Artcurial, one of Paris’ most prestigious auction houses. This was the first ever sale of contemporary Indian art to be held in that city, with final figures coming in just under $2 million.
5th – 6th -Even as S.H. Raza's “Maha Bindu” fetched $652,000 beating Tyeb Mehta's “Untitled” that sold at $602,500, Saffronart's two-day online auction of Indian art realized a total sale value of about $8 million from 110 lots representing 36 artists.
12th – A year-end analysis by the Economic/Indian Times suggests that the modern masters in Indian art have maintained a steady level on the price front, are still attracting healthy demand, and seemed to have stabilized in price, while some second-rung contemporary artists have set new benchmarks in these areas.
And so we shall see what the New Year brings.
If we take care of the moments, the years will take care of themselves. Maria Edgeworth
