Bhaskar Parichha
Fakes and forgeries in the art world have been material for intense debate. They have been the subject of books, films, and television series the world over. Called “Forger of the century”, Germany’s Wolfgang Beltracchi is said to have created, over the past three decades, so much chaos in the intercontinental art market with his fake paintings that a film has been made on this “Robin Hood of art”. Beltracchiis is reported to have produced some 300 paintings in the style of great masters, such as Picasso, Gauguin or Monet. He would usually sign these works as his own, and then would let his wife put them up for sale!
Fortunately, unlike in the west, India’s art and cultural world doesn’t suffer much from authenticity disputes or contested provenance, or painters faking their own work. Even then, there are serious issues which are more central in nature.
The March-June issue of MARG has touched upon this topic rather vividly and for the most part in the Indian context. From faked paintings to stolen artifacts, from government censorship to policy shortcomings, all the concerns have been addressed in the ten- odd articles by activists, lawyers, academics historians and anthropologists.
As Latika Gupta in the introduction says, ‘art and culture are hardly ever received or indeed created without accompanying filters of politics, history, legality and economics.’
Co-editor Naman P. Ahuja in his editorial note has raised some significant points when he says, ‘urbanization is forcing traditional artists to seek new markets…construction of smart cities, suburbs and metros is also revealing new archaeological material..Ignoring these finds allows regulators to succumb to pressure to enable builders to complete their work on time…communities are relocated and historical sites are sacrificed in the name of progress.’ Disquieting beyond doubt.
The piece of Akhil Sibal- Delhi-based senior advocate –deals with freedom of speech in the context of films, paintings with special reference to Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s film ‘Padmavati’,hounding of MF Hussain for his ‘Bharat Mata’ series of paintings,Prakash Jha’s film ‘Akarshan’ and Tamil feature film ‘Kaththi.’Sibal’s contention is that non-state actors pose the greatest threat to the freedom of expression in India. Activist and curator Ram Rahman’s ‘Modes of Resistance in India’ says all about Sahmat’s experiments in dissent and assures us that it will ‘continue to serve as a platform to defend progressive and free expression and as a space of resistance against any imposition of mono-cultural vision.’
Naman P. Ahuja professor of Arts and Aesthetics at JNU in his piece argues that erotica must be given a space in India’s neo-cultural milieu purely for historic, psychological and social reasons. Given the rise of crimes related to sex,any suppression of erotic expression will only accentuate the situation argues Prof. Ahuja.He underlines the double standards in our attitudes towards nude figuration in modern and contemporary art as compared to the erotica in ancient and medieval Indian art.
The other articles in the issue are by President Emerita of the Asia Society Vishakah N desai (Authencity and Excellence in Narrative paintings from Rajasthan),Hyderabad-based historian Varunika Saraf (A Market for Fakes – Rajasthan Miniature paintings),Professor at Bard College New York Richard H Davis(New Lives for Returned Images of Sripuranthan icons,) Amsterdam University professor Pieter Meyers (The fake case of Chandraketugarh) and ‘Copies without originals – Love in the age of Mechanical Reproduction’ by Lawrence Liang,Ambedkar University, New Delhi.Marg’s present issue has a book review on ‘Jain Vastrapatas’ by John E. Cort,professor at Denison University, Ohio.
Taken as a whole, a number of deep-rooted issues of ‘theft, ownership and faking’ relating to India’s art and culture have been dealt with, rather tellingly.
MARG (March-June 2018)
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(The writer is a senior journalist and currently associated with OdishaLIVE as Consulting Editor. You can share your comment with him at content(@)odisha(dot)live)
