Osian's Auction Catalogue The Masterpieces and Museum Quality Series | October 2004

THE MASTERPIECES & MUSEUM-QUALITY SERIES 11 it very difficult to make the public respectfully adhere to the law, without completely suppressing the market underground. For example, what is the law pertaining to a book over 100 years which has expensive (or cheap) handcoloured chromolithographs or photogravures printed upon it? Can it be exported? Does it require a licence to sell? If so, what happens when each page of the book is torn up, as is the case with over 95% of all old books, and sold individually? Does that page become non-exportable? Does one need a licence to sell one page of the book? What about family photographic albums? Does this law pertain to only Indian books or books published from all countries? Imagine the logistics to monitor, and to what end? Apart from the upteen questions about the non-exportability, how do we import back old books into India? What is the procedure to buy books now, immediately, to bring them home into Indian archives and libraries or even to sell domestically? These simple questions have no clear cut answer, they lie in the realm of ambiguity, open to contradictory interpretation which only going to court can resolve. Surely that cannot be the only resort open to honest citizens. Anyone who has tried knows the difficulty, if not impossibility, of getting something on paper, signed by officials who have the authority to sign. No one knows, so all are afraid to put their head on the block, and so the trisanku ambiguity continues on upteen issues, hence the ineffectiveness of the law. Apart from legal ambiguities, the ineffectiveness is mainly due to the lack of awareness, vision and practical will concerning the changing realities within & outside India during the past thirty years. In the process India has not created any credible private-public platforms to support the ASI (The Archaeological Survey of India) and keep alert their national duty of creating a cadre of experts to take responsibility for our heritage. The ASI, after more than a century of brilliant work and in its hey day one of the greatest institutions the world has seen, today finds itself grossly under-funded, lacking in the urgency and motivation required, and so far, unable to grow and adapt to the changing practices, economics and modern attitudes in the art and cultural world. It needs significant strengthening, public support, accountability and private sector collaboration. If this does not occur all our heritage will remain dead cultural non-assets unable to freely circulate within our own country, unable to transform themselves into vibrant wealth & knowledge generating ideas, artefacts & institutions, serving our people and protecting property rights. Remember, to destroy the domestic antique market is to encourage smuggling. I am convinced that no citizen or lover of India would today wish to take things out even at the cost of domestically achieving 50% of what an international market would provide. What they fear and hate are the archaic and ambiguous processes which do not allow a transparent and practical system to develop at home. Of course a key concern is to stop all illegal export of antiquities. The answer to this is simple – in practice and vision. This is done by, once and for all, publicly documenting the heritage of India with modern technologies, some of which has already been completed by the ASI with earlier technologies. Today, this is not a difficult task for the experts, properly led and guided, in collaboration with the ASI. Barely a team of forty can take on the task and within three years have the whole nation documented if the government allows. If no one comes forward I will put my head on the block. Simultaneously, the ASI, Customs and Police Services should be re-educated, strengthened & refinanced. The tax & insurance departments should be brought into the processes systematically and new legal guidelines within a visionary framework, where the arts are given a pivotal role in India’s developmental policies, should be drafted. Within the first open steps being taken we will have a confident and vibrant domestic antique market & knowledge-base creation, with private and public sectors working together, in mutual trust and respect. Soon we are importing our lost treasures back into India (assuming the import duty on Indian art is abolished!) and the finest minds of the world will be flooding back to India, to study her here before they go there. From this platform will emerge new institutional frameworks and funding processes to relieve the government of many of her resource crunches in the arts and culture. The perception that private individuals can help build great public institutions will become the norm. Today Osian’s focus remains on institutionalising the contemporary art market, not the underbelly of the iceberg. This contemporary tip, despite significant growth, is still at an infant stage of development. The main reason being that the kind of individuals required to build great institutions and systems in the arts, are a rare mix of uncompromising passion and sensitivity towards creativity, while having the financial discipline and objectivity, so as to nurture processes dominated by merit and elusive intangibles. The confidence and expertise to place credible material values on the intangible is a great art. When the post-modern thought processes come to look beyond minor debates concerning the struggle against ‘commodification’ they will recognise that the true battle lies in the value systems of creativity usurping Materialism itself, so as to serve creativity, rather than crying on how the material context corrupts creativity. Ironically in India the arts are failing to play this role because their economic responsibility is minimal. Today when a Husain takes the risk of being called a ‘gimmick’ for trying to put a ‘fair’ international value upon one small part of Indian artistic heritage, however clumsy the effort, most mock, with only vested interests to support. The true guilty party is the Indian infrastructure which has failed to nurture creativity, not encouraging it to stake its rightful claim, not just for historical and aesthetic acclaim, but also a fair share of the vast global financial pie. Only if we open this door does India have a genuine chance of becoming a great world leader, for she alone has more than six thousand years of prized heritage, much still alive, well diversified, with a thriving democracy, private property laws and the sense to now know that the greatest wealth is in the intangible. The software industry has led the way for India. However, the arts & culture are the true knowledge-bases of the world. However, their valuation cannot be based on individual whims or fashions. Deep, publicly accountable systems of valuation need to be nurtured by us for world-wide respectability. The time is ripe for the power structures to change. Much of contemporary art may seem indulgent and mediocre, but the very best is always the very best reflection of the nation, its people, its values, its circumstances and aspirations, and hence the most prized possessions of humanity. We need to inculcate a deep respect and take forward our responsibility of galvanising the intelligentsia and creative communities to redefine our duties, staking a claim in the developmental policies, so as to help build a nation with our passionate-detachment , building with zest for others to enjoy.