[ SATURDAY, APRIL 14, 2007 01:01:19 AM]
The seasoned collector shivers at the thought of a ‘print’ when contemplating all the original works of art that he can potentially spot, pick up and then savour.
But what about the neophyte? It’s fine for those who have the greenbacks to snap up any of the current ‘blue-chip’ names (or should they now be called brands?) regardless of astronomical price tags. What happens, though, to the newbie who has a yearning for art? She’s too green to be able to identify good art that also suits her pocket, so what’s her option?
These columns have earlier discussed art photography as an alternative. But what of other options? Reproductions? Works which are reminiscent in style of famous artists? Is there any respectable way to have a Husain or Jogen on the wall without selling the house in order to afford them?
An increasingly popular option is prints, which run the gamut from posters to serigraphs, lithographs, oleographs, and limited edition art prints. Which could explain why there there have been a spate of print exhibitions in the metros of late.
This week, for instance, Delhi’s Palette Art Gallery featured limited edition serigraphs of the veteran Mumbai based artist Jehangir Sabavala. Done by Lavesh Jagasia’s Serigraph Studio, the limited edition (125 prints each of 18 of Sabavala’s works, numbered and signed by the artist) show earlier had a run in Mumbai as well.
That Jagasia has turned his hobby of collecting art into a business of producing and selling serigraphs also underlines the potential of the market.
“Serigraphs are a good option for works of artists who are difficult to access,” says Sunaina Anand of Art Alive. “It’s possibly the next best option to the original as it is affordable.” There is, however, a downside. Remember the dust kicked up when businessman-turned-art-entrepreneur GS Srivastava tried to maximise his returns from the 100 works he commissioned from MF Husain by also trying to sell 125 serigraphic prints of each painting before the original? There it wasn’t accessibility but multi-point marketing of an artistic hot property.
Art world sources largely agree that prints — low- and high-end versions — are a practical way of developing an eye for art. If a poster of a Degas ballerina or an offset print of Picasso’s Don Quixote catches your fancy, the chances are that you’re developing an idea of aesthetics, an appreciation of art that may one day translate into a collector’s zeal. “As a starting point it’s fine,” chuckles a collector. “But it shouldn’t become a habit!”
Serigraphs, etchings, lithographs, dry-point woodcuts, linocuts, the formal synonyms for “original prints” or “multiple originals” are many. They are not always cheap — though they are a fraction of the cost of say, a drawing or painting by the same artist — but they do often fall into the realm of affordable. Paying, say Rs 45,000 for a numbered, signed Sabavala, Ram Kumar or SH Raza does not seem outlandish. With Rs 1 crore now a normal asking price for top class works, how many novices’ aspirations can catch up with prices?
Purists say, with some justification, that buyers of prints end up actually paying only for the signature.
But there’s satisfaction in even that, like senior lawyer Dushyant Dave, who felt that the pair of lithographs by Sakti Burman and Maite Delteil with Amitabh & Jaya Bachchan (with the relevant signatures) was worth every paisa of the Rs 35 lakh he paid at the Khushii auction last November.
That said, there’s still a fine line — the art world’s Laxman Rekha if you will — between poster art and a “multiple original”, the jargon for limited edition prints. That’s the razor’s edge for a nascent collector, yet to hone his instincts in the esoteric world of art.
So naturally there are pointers for the potential buyer. “Look for three things in when you think of buying a print,” says Ashish Anand of Delhi Art Gallery. “The first point is the quality of the artist. Second is the rarity and quality of the print — it shouldn’t be available all over the place. And the third is, the edition: whether it is limited or open, and how many prints have been made.”
“I hate the idea of a work being transposed from its original media into another,” says a collector. As there is merit in that argument, the motivation for buying a signed print as opposed to a poster, therefore, is the implicit understanding that even if it is on paper instead of a canvas, it has the approval of the artist in terms of its closeness to the original.
The best buy within this genre then would be those with the letters AP written somewhere, showing that it is the ‘artist’s proof’, that is, they are not from the standard edition but have been given to the artist for his own record/ collection.
That silent bond of understanding between a great artist and novice collector could be the starting point of a mutually beneficial love affair later!
But what about the neophyte? It’s fine for those who have the greenbacks to snap up any of the current ‘blue-chip’ names (or should they now be called brands?) regardless of astronomical price tags. What happens, though, to the newbie who has a yearning for art? She’s too green to be able to identify good art that also suits her pocket, so what’s her option?
These columns have earlier discussed art photography as an alternative. But what of other options? Reproductions? Works which are reminiscent in style of famous artists? Is there any respectable way to have a Husain or Jogen on the wall without selling the house in order to afford them?
An increasingly popular option is prints, which run the gamut from posters to serigraphs, lithographs, oleographs, and limited edition art prints. Which could explain why there there have been a spate of print exhibitions in the metros of late.
This week, for instance, Delhi’s Palette Art Gallery featured limited edition serigraphs of the veteran Mumbai based artist Jehangir Sabavala. Done by Lavesh Jagasia’s Serigraph Studio, the limited edition (125 prints each of 18 of Sabavala’s works, numbered and signed by the artist) show earlier had a run in Mumbai as well.
That Jagasia has turned his hobby of collecting art into a business of producing and selling serigraphs also underlines the potential of the market.
“Serigraphs are a good option for works of artists who are difficult to access,” says Sunaina Anand of Art Alive. “It’s possibly the next best option to the original as it is affordable.” There is, however, a downside. Remember the dust kicked up when businessman-turned-art-entrepreneur GS Srivastava tried to maximise his returns from the 100 works he commissioned from MF Husain by also trying to sell 125 serigraphic prints of each painting before the original? There it wasn’t accessibility but multi-point marketing of an artistic hot property.
Art world sources largely agree that prints — low- and high-end versions — are a practical way of developing an eye for art. If a poster of a Degas ballerina or an offset print of Picasso’s Don Quixote catches your fancy, the chances are that you’re developing an idea of aesthetics, an appreciation of art that may one day translate into a collector’s zeal. “As a starting point it’s fine,” chuckles a collector. “But it shouldn’t become a habit!”
Serigraphs, etchings, lithographs, dry-point woodcuts, linocuts, the formal synonyms for “original prints” or “multiple originals” are many. They are not always cheap — though they are a fraction of the cost of say, a drawing or painting by the same artist — but they do often fall into the realm of affordable. Paying, say Rs 45,000 for a numbered, signed Sabavala, Ram Kumar or SH Raza does not seem outlandish. With Rs 1 crore now a normal asking price for top class works, how many novices’ aspirations can catch up with prices?
Purists say, with some justification, that buyers of prints end up actually paying only for the signature.
But there’s satisfaction in even that, like senior lawyer Dushyant Dave, who felt that the pair of lithographs by Sakti Burman and Maite Delteil with Amitabh & Jaya Bachchan (with the relevant signatures) was worth every paisa of the Rs 35 lakh he paid at the Khushii auction last November.
That said, there’s still a fine line — the art world’s Laxman Rekha if you will — between poster art and a “multiple original”, the jargon for limited edition prints. That’s the razor’s edge for a nascent collector, yet to hone his instincts in the esoteric world of art.
So naturally there are pointers for the potential buyer. “Look for three things in when you think of buying a print,” says Ashish Anand of Delhi Art Gallery. “The first point is the quality of the artist. Second is the rarity and quality of the print — it shouldn’t be available all over the place. And the third is, the edition: whether it is limited or open, and how many prints have been made.”
“I hate the idea of a work being transposed from its original media into another,” says a collector. As there is merit in that argument, the motivation for buying a signed print as opposed to a poster, therefore, is the implicit understanding that even if it is on paper instead of a canvas, it has the approval of the artist in terms of its closeness to the original.
The best buy within this genre then would be those with the letters AP written somewhere, showing that it is the ‘artist’s proof’, that is, they are not from the standard edition but have been given to the artist for his own record/ collection.
That silent bond of understanding between a great artist and novice collector could be the starting point of a mutually beneficial love affair later!
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