REDISCOVERY OF INDIA

Indian collectors are reclaiming Colonial-era art created by foreigners as an intrinsic part ofthe country's history

- VEFNU SANDHU

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 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 ₹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.

"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.