Tuesday - Oct 29, 2024
Women Artists
Indian women artists have long made a mark, but only now are they gaining long overdue global recognition
By Jasmine Shah Varma
Amrita Sher-Gil's The Story Teller, which sold for Rs 61.8 crores in auction in September 2023, marks a major milestone for women artists in India.
Sher-Gil's work is often lauded for its pioneering portrayal of women, a subject she handled with remarkable sensitivity. Though her career was brief, her legacy continues to influence generations of Indian artists. Yet, Sher-Gil remains one of the few pre-independence female voices in the Indian art narrative, a reflection of the historical marginalisation of women in the arts.
While auction results are not the only measure of an artist's success, they are a telling indicator of the nature of the art market. Bharati Kher's The Skin Speaks Its Language, a life-sized sculpture of an elephant, sold for a record Rs 6.9 crores in 2010. Later that year, Arpita Singh's 16-panel work Wish Dream fetched Rs 9.6 crores at auction. However, it took 14 years for another female artist Amrita Sher-Gil to break these records, underscoring the slow pace of progress in gender parity within the auction and art market. This 1937 oil-on-canvas masterpiece not only broke the Rs 51.75 crore record set by Syed Haider Raza earlier that month, but it also shattered a price barrier for women artists, signalling a significant step toward recognition.To put this into a global context, the highest price ever paid for a work by a female artist is USD 44.4 million for Georgia O'Keeffe's painting sold at Sotheby's in 2014. While Indian artists are making strides, there remains a significant gap between the Indian and Western art markets in terms of the valuation of female artists' works.
Women's contributions to early Indian art, particularly in the pre-independence era, are seldom documented. Early female artists like Sunayani Devi, Devayani Krishna and Pilloo Pochkhanawala have been largely forgotten. Bhanu Athaiya, later known for her Oscar-winning costumes, was once part of the Progressive Artists' Group, though her art and role in the Group have been mostly overlooked.
This historical neglect of women artists reflects broader societal barriers that limited their opportunities. While fewer women may have had the chance to become professional artists in early 20th-century India, it is also possible that the stories of those who did have the chance, were ignoredÂas was also the case in Western art history.
It wasn't until the 1980s that Indian women artists began to gain more visibility. The feminist movement of the 1970s in the West inspired Indian artists to challenge the male-dominated art world. Nalini Malani, a prominent figure in this shift, recalled in a recent talk how she spearheaded an all-women traveling exhibition titled Through the Looking Glass. It featured Arpita Singh, Madhavi Parekh, Nilima Sheikh alongside Malini. The group toured cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Baroda and Bhopal between 1985 and 1989, showcasing their work and pushing for greater representation of women in the arts. This pivotal moment opened doors for future generations of female artists.
Despite the challenges, many believe that Indian women artists are on the path to greater recognition. Art historian and curator Arshiya Lokhandwala points out that while auction prices are important, the sustained representation of women artists in galleries and the regular pricing of their works play a more critical role in determining long-term success. She also notes that while male artists conventionally command higher prices, this trend is changing, particularly for politically and conceptually compelling works by women.
Geeta Mehra, founder of Sakshi Gallery, emphasises that the art world is merit-based. She notes that more women artists are emerging today than ever before, and their success is judged primarily on the quality of their work, not their gender. Similarly, senior artist Anjana Mehra, who has been practicing since the 1960s, argues that any historical disparity between men and women in the arts was not due to gender discrimination but simply the result of there being more male artists during that period.
Today, there is an increasing recognition of women artists from India, not just locally but also on the international stage. Major museums such as the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art in India, and Western institutions like The Tate, The Met and MoMA, have surveyed the careers of leading Indian women artists. Mrinalini Mukherjee, Anupam Sud, Jayshree Chakraborty, Nasreen Mohamedi, Nalini Malani, Zarina Hashmi, and Arpita Singh have received critical acclaim. This institutional recognition is a testament to the growing acknowledgment of the value these women have brought to Indian art.
The current generation of female artists, including Bharti Kher, Rina Banerjee, Shilpa Gupta and Sheela Gowda, is also gaining attention for its work. These contemporary artists are being featured on prestigious platforms and are increasingly being recognised in global markets.
While gender disparity in Indian art persists, the progress made over the past few decades is undeniable. From the forgotten voices of early female artists to the feminist push in the 1980s and the growing global appreciation of contemporary women artists, the narrative is slowly but surely changing. Increasing representation in prestigious museums, rising auction prices and the growing visibility of female artists are all indicators of this long-awaited change. However, much work is still to be done to achieve true gender parity in the art world.
