india

Updated: Apr 23, 2020 17:48 IST

The DAG, a modern and contemporary gallery, has raised Rs 1 crore for Covid-19 relief work by selling 51 works by masters, including Nandlal Bose, MF Husain, Krishen Khanna, Jamini Roy and Krishna Reddy, among others. The amount will be sent to either the PM CARES fund or the Chief Minister’s relief fund, depending on the buyer’s discretion.

Among the 51 works — all owned by the gallery —were oils, acrylics on canvas, serigraphs, works on paper and board, as well as a photograph and a sculpture.

The online fixed sale which began April 20 was slated to end on April 30, but all the works were sold within a couple of days, DAG managing director and CEO Ashish Anand said.

The works were all priced lower by between 25-35% to facilitate the sale, Anand said. In all 32 buyers picked up the works, which ranged between Rs 50,000 and Rs 500,000.

HT spoke to Anand regarding the sale, and the pandemic’s likely impact on the Indian art market. Read edited excerpts.

Q. What did you think about the sale, as it happened during the pandemic?

A. It was a fixed price sale, not an auction. So the sale was a combination of the quality of work and competitive pricing and also because all of us have been hit by Covid, and we were in a mood to contribute.

Q. Let’s unpack the phrase, competitive pricing. Are these the prices that would have been fixed if we hadn’t been hit by a pandemic?

A. Our gallery prices are higher. So for example, if we’re selling the Nandlal Bose for Rs 250,000, probably at the gallery, it would have been priced about Rs 350,000. So we also brought the prices down to make it lucrative for anyone to buy. The decision became so much easier for people, as they would have realised they are getting a good deal and the money is going towards the efforts of nation building. The prices of all works were reduced in the range of 25-35%. All the work sold in the first 48 hours.

Q. What, according to you, is the impact the pandemic could have on the art market?

A. In the short term, there will be a lull in the market. But it will gain its momentum. A lot of business, in the art market too, will move online. People will start having virtual exhibitions, online viewings, and that means a larger base will view the works... and the market will expand. How many people come and view exhibitions in a brick and mortar gallery? A handful. Art is an underpenetrated asset class. There are not more than 2,000 buyers who buy art in India, and the market is less than Rs 1,500 crore. That’s small for a country like India.

Q. How would DAG pivot itself in the future, if as you predict, the market expands, the base of buyers increase? We’re also looking at a recession in the near future.

A. People have lost a lot of wealth across all the asset classes. Temporarily yes, the impact [on the art market] will be visible. There will be a temporary lull. I think it boils down to democratising art. If more and more people get involved, galleries do virtual exhibitions, more people start looking at art as an asset class, I don’t see any impact on prices. Art remains isolated from impact of this kind because the market is very small. When you have such a small number of buyers, the prices may come down — it’s an immediate shock — but the only way is up. It should be the first asset class to pick up.