Sher-Gil Marg

Dayanita Singh: Limited Edition Prints Rs 2 lakh each*

For those who feel Sonabai is an unusual inclusion, others remind us that she's an equal but under-recognised talent, because of a widespread bias against art like hers. Explains Jyotindra Jain, professor of Arts and Aesthetics at Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University: "India's five-year plans decided the fate of about three million folk artists by attaching them to the ministry of commerce, while the destiny of western-educated urban artists was left to the ministry of culture." This pernicious policy is what turned traditional artisans into foreign exchange-earning 'machines', who were forced to churn out works, since 'craft' was initially one of our biggest exports. To reverse this cultural and economic apartheid, Jain has been pivotal in helping Madhubani painters like the late Ganga Devi find international recognition as artists. This is a vital achievement, for much of tribal and folk art is women-centric.

All of which leads us to a moot question: are there any discernible gender differences between artists? "Women articulate their views on war, violence, communalism within a very personal space," says Shireen Gandhy of Mumbai's Gallery Chemould. Hoskote's observation is that women think in details. "They have reclaimed denigrated decorative arts like embroidery, gold-leaf painting and miniature painting as high art." Dadiba Pundole, a partner at Mumbai's Pundole Art Gallery and consultant to Sotheby's on modern Indian art, shares his impressions about Baroda-based painter Nilima Sheikh's work When Champa Grew Up. "It's a single work of multiple pictures that captures Champa's childhood right up to her wedding and death. I don't think a man could paint that." Arun Vadehra, who runs the Vadehra Art Gallery in Delhi and represents auction house Christie's, says: "I feel guilty even thinking about women as artists separate from men."

In life, as in art, gender issues linger. A recent online auction of 145 works of Indian artists had only 16 by women. In a new investor's guide to 101 modern and contemporary artists, the first woman featured is Mumbai-based Nalini Malani. And she's 19th on the list (there's no editorial bias, the listing is alphabetical). Some call this a universal phenomenon. "How many Nobel laureates are women?" asks Geetha Mehra of Mumbai's Sakshi Art Gallery. However, one art historian does identify an X-factor. She accuses auction houses of "lacking adventurousness, of refusing to consider avant garde or fringe works, which is what women artists take up".

Anjolie Ela Menon: Untitled. Nude Rs 30 lakh acrylic on canvas

In this scenario, radical artists like painter, installation and video-maker Nalini Malani or photographer-sculptor Anita Dube of Delhi mostly feature in prestigious but non-commercial museum shows. And their admirers outnumber their buyers. "In India, installations are still considered an event that disintegrates," says Chennai-based gallerist Sharan Apparao. Abroad these works, when re-assembled, command high prices.

Gender theme shows also get acid reactions. In 1997, Renu Modi of Delhi's Gallerie Espace presented a women-only show at the NGMA, called Self and the World. "We were strongly attacked for taking up gender," she recalls. Even today, Modi, who is about to open India's largest gallery space in the capital, says women artists are evidently more hesitant and modest about raising their prices.

But with less money, there's less manipulation. As alert readers know, whenever Husain's contemporaries eclipse his price, a mysterious buyer always helps Husain reclaim the zenith. This is usually a highly publicised but private sale. Women artists, on the other hand, are genuinely disturbed by the colour of money. "No, it can't be me," protests Arpita Singh, in total denial of her monetary worth. Her contemporary, Nilima, a painter loved by collectors, critics and art-lovers, also protests: "I am not a profitable candidate." In a characteristically quiet observation, she adds: "There's something outside the orbit of art that is de-humanising the art world." Anju Dodiya, who lives and works in Mumbai, says, "I never thought I could live off my art." Yet Sotheby's July records show Anju's canvas, Visitation, sold for Rs 40 lakh. And her price compass continues to point due north.

Anju Dodiya: Visitation Rs 40 lakh, acrylic on canvas

Thematically too, there are new explorations. After years of self-portraiture, Anju Dodiya claims that the 'risky eroticism' in her recent show The Cloud Hunt is indirect. She says: "I use the body to speak of the mind. What interests me most is the thinking private self.'' With time, Arpita Singh is portraying the sagging female nude, her works appreciated by collectors and critics. Harshness is mostly aimed at popular painter Anjolie Ela Menon. Critics accuse her of "pandering to the male ego" by repeating images of a female with a single exposed breast. Menon refutes this. "One has to constantly struggle against the Husain horse syndrome. Many people want works like my Woman in the Window. I tell them I'm not painting her anymore."

Yet, while contemporary art has plenty of takers, art photography still hasn't caught on in India. Peter Nagy of Delhi's Gallery Nature Morte, who represents globally acclaimed Dayanita Singh, known for her portraits of Mona Ahmed and Empty Spaces series, says "We sell very few of her works in India, she mostly sells abroad. " Other gallerists feel that women artists display particular felicity with exploring new mediums and materials. Supriya Banerjee of Calcutta's Galerie 88 says, "What excites me most about painter Jayashree Chakravarty's work is how she weaves through themes like cartography and calligraphy, while working with rice paper, tissue and cellophane."

Shakila Bibi: Untitled. Collage Rs 78,000*