Rediscovery of India: Collectors reclaim colonial art as nation's heritage

In the 1880s, an American painter named Edwin Lord Weeks landed on Indian shores after having travelled to South America, Egypt, Persia and Morocco, profusely painting scenes of everyday life in those countries. In India, he went about painting the ghats of Mathura and Benaras, reproducing on canvas royal processions out on a hunt, framing for posterity the maharajas and their entourages at forts, or turning his attention to temples and mosques.

 

Earlier this year, in September, one of Weeks’ 1884 paintings, titled Hindu Temple, Bombay, sold for Rs 24 crore at a Saffronart auction in New Delhi. This set a world record for the highest price achieved by the artist at auction globally, with the oil on canvas fetching more than three times the second-highest bid (which was for Jehangir Sabavala’s Earthenware, 1959, that sold for Rs 7.50 crore). This was also for the first time in the country that the work on India by a foreign artist had featured as the cover lot at an auction. 

Hindu Temple, Bombay, 1884, by Edwin Lord Weeks sold for Rs 24 crore at the Saffronart Evening Sale in September this year, setting a world record for the highest price achieved by the artist at auction globally. Courtesy: Saffronart

 

“This painting, like many others from that period, captures the ‘outside looking in’ perspective, which is a hallmark of Orientalist art,” says Minal Vazirani, president and co-founder of Saffronart. Indian collectors, she adds, are now increasingly getting interested in these works. “There's a growing sentiment that ‘we are the inside looking out now’.” It’s about reclaiming our history and recognising the importance of these artworks within our own context, she explains. 

 

Weeks isn’t the only foreign artist who travelled to and worked in or on India. And he certainly isn’t the only one attracting attention in the country of his interest. 

(Clockwise from left) Trommelslager (Drummer), Portrait of a Madras Boy, and Portrait of a Man (Bhulla, Himalayas) by Danish artist Hugo Vilfred Pedersen. Courtesy: DAG

   

This year, the art house DAG curated two shows featuring Orientalists: “The Orientalists’ Benares” in January in Mumbai’; and “Destination India” in July in New Delhi. Among those whose works were exhibited was Thomas Daniell, a British artist who arrived in Calcutta with his nephew, William, in 1786. The others included Marius Bauer (Dutch), Erich Kips (German), Hugo Vilfred Pedersen (Danish), the Australia-born Mortimer Menpes, and British artists Charles William Bartlett, William Simpson and Edward Lear. 

 

The homecoming

 

“These works were created for audiences overseas, and they remained in Europe in private and institutional collections,” says Ashish Anand, CEO and Managing Director, DAG. In recent years, the art house has started acquiring and bringing these paintings to India for viewings in the country that inspired their creation. 

 

“Since many of these works are over a hundred years old, they cannot leave the country once they have been brought in,” says Anand. “The viewership as well as collectability is, therefore, meant for Indians and confined to India.” 

(From left) The Mosque of Aurangzeb, Benaras, 1863, by Richard Robert Drabble (British) & Untitled, 1878, Charles Walters D'Oyly (British). Courtesy: DAG

 

 

Certain themes within Orientalist art are particularly sought after. 

 

“Depictions of Indian architecture, such as grand palaces, temples, and Mughal monuments, are highly in demand,” says Gautam. Scenes of daily life, which showcase traditional clothing, rituals, and bustling marketplaces, also attract collectors for their vivid portrayal of historical lifestyles, she adds.    

(From left) Head of a Young Woman, 1896 & Portrait of Elderly Indians, 1900, by Italian artist Olinto Ghilardi. Courtesy: DAG

   

Anand draws attention to “an interesting reversal of the gaze”. The Orientalists, he says, pitted architecture, street scenes and people together, and the results were amazing, especially the play of light and colour in their works. “A century and more after these paintings were made, they still cast a web of fascination on viewers,” he says. “Only, the viewer is now increasingly Indian.”