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But for the generosity of a number of Calcutta-based monthlies which regularly printed a number of colour-plates of the Bengal School stalwarts, the names of Abanindranath Tagore, Gaganendranath Tagore, Nandalal Bose, Kshitindranath Mazumdar, Hemendranath Mazumdar, Bbabani Charan Law, Asitkumar Halder, Saradacharan Ukil, Deviprasad Roychowdhury and even of Ramkinkar Baij would have remained unheard of.
The Indian Society of Oriental Art, established in 1907 with the help of the ruling hegemony, held exhibitions in the make-shift galleries in its rented accommodation. The society never thought of having a permanent gallery space of its own. Even in 1932, Rabindranath Tagore's first solo in Calcutta was showcased in the classrooms of the Government Art School. Mukulchandra Dey, the Principal of the School and a pupil of Tagore, had arranged the show. Jamini Roy made his debut at the same venue by courtesy of Mukulchandra in 1937.
The Academy of Fine Arts established in 1933 by Maharaja P.N. Tagore of Pathuriaghata, held its annual shows in the long corridors of the Indian Museum that hardly allowed any comfortable viewing space. It was carried on for about three decades until the Academy built its permanent office at the present site in the early 1960s.
The Calcutta Group held its exhibitions in its studio at S.R. Das Road, in J. Majumder's drawing room at Chowringhee Terrace and in the gallery space rented out by the Art in Industry organization at Park Street.
The first commercial gallery that offered spaces where artists could show their experimental work outside the control of established institutions, was opened in Calcutta in the late 1950s by Himani Khanna, daughter of the then Union Minister for Relief and Rehabilitation, Meherchand Khanna, at Theatre Road. Though Calcutta had been the center of innovation in art since a long time and Calcutta-based artists held shows abroad, Calcutta did not have any gallery that could provide exhibition space to its own artists till then. Himani Khanna failed to sustain her programme for lack of support either from the artist community or the art audience.
Abanindranath Tagore gave away his paintings mostly as gifts. Gaganendranath Tagore never dreamt of putting any price on his paintings. Nandalal Bose had his small circle of clientele which bought his paintings occasionally for a paltry sum of a few hundred rupees. Neither Benodbehari Mukhopadhyay nor Ramkinkar Baij could ever sell their paintings when they were alive. Some people however bought a few paintings for decorating their drawing rooms. The Europeans stationed in Calcutta bought picturesque landscapes as mementos of their stay in India. In 1951 Annual of the Academy of Fine Arts, M.F. Hussain's painting did not sell even at one hundred and fifty rupees. Jamini Roy's works sold almost for a song. He was the only artist in Calcutta who free-lanced for sustenance. He had given up portrait painting at a time when portrait painters were much in demand and the profession was lucrative. The handful of people who bought art never considered it as a mode of investment. The service personnel comprising of Americans and Europeans mostly bought Jamini Roy's works for their exotic flavour and look.
Needless to say that, the private galleries coming up in increasing numbers almost every month, thrive on the proposition that Peggy Guggenheim envisaged during the early 1940s. The Second World War had betrayed the home-truth that investment in the two traditional modes, viz, bullion and real-estate, was no longer safe. The Jewish community that controls the U.S. economy, to which Peggy also belonged, thought of contemporary art as the third and the safest mode of investment. The concept historically coincided with the emergence of the New York based avant-garde American artists who needed patronage and support. The war had prompted the European artists to flee to a safer ground and they flocked in the U.S.A in large numbers. The Bauhaus had already shifted to the U.S.A. The New York School of American avant-gardes maneuvered to combat the cultural aggession of Europe over the U.S.A as they feared that otherwise European modernism would overpower American art. Hence, Rothkos, Pollocks, Stills started to assert the American primacy in visual arts and to take stock of their own potential. The hub of modern art shifted from Paris to New York over the head of Picasso during the mid-1940s. Private galleries mushroomed in all the states. America's economic supremacy for the first time became visible in the realm of contemporary art for all the world to see. Pollock got tagged with Peggy.
Bullion and real estate as modes of investment have nothing unique about them. But visual arts as intellectual property are value-added items owing to the fact that unlike the two other conventional modes of investment, a painting can never be substituted or replicated. A painting is a unique creation of an individual. Moreover, owning a Rothko or a Pollock tells not only of the affluence of the owner, but also states his cultural consciousness. Peggy started the ball rolling and the ball started globe-trotting.
Gone are the days of Abanindranath Tagore and Ramkinkar Baij. Though Ramkinkar could not sell a single piece, the gallery culture now promises a social security and affluence even to a sophomore which Sailoz Mukherji could never dream of. Gallery Aakriti deserves a big hand in promoting young aspirants in the field.
-- Professor [Dr] Sovon Som
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