No one asks me anymore by how much the price of a particular artist will go up.? That, for Renu Modi, Director, Gallery Espace, is the biggest lesson from the tumultuous year that Indian art just went through. Few sectors had seen as steep an increase during the golden run that lasted for a few years till September 2008. Then the decline in prices of individual works and value of the art market went beyond just corrections. The approximately $500-million Indian art sector had grown from next to nothing at the beginning of the decade and the decline seemed just as spectacular. Experts estimate the average decline in value for the Indian art market ranged between 30% and 40% from its peak, though for certain artists the decline is said to have been to the tune of 80% to 90%.

The ?golden run?of the art market is perhaps a misnomer, for it was more about the price of the art than art itself. ?For a while, we almost stopped having collectors,?says Modi, adding, ?New buyers, who were looking only at investment, consistently outbid older collectors, and the latter also retreated. Now, the older collectors feel they can come back.? The Delhi-based gallery owner admits that the investment angle is an important facet, but she feels the situation became ridiculous at one point. ?For a while, every house had dealers and every one had NRI buyers thirsting for Indian art,?she says.

?From September last year, sales completely stopped. There was a complete blank on new enquiries and even the artists began saying that they had no new requests,?she says, adding that her gallery was also forced to cancel a few shows early in 2009.

Modi?s gallery is marking its 20th anniversary and she says that ups and downs are part of the art market. ?Now that the stock market is up, people have again started buying. India Art Summit (IAS) 2009 saw the return of confidence. The sales were not good, but people started coming back,?she says. ?In December, we are seeing the return of the NRI buyer too.?

Sharan Apparao of Chennai-based Apparao Galleries feels, ?The economic slowdown affected the art market, as buyers did have the money but were fearful. But now they are looking at lucrative deals. However, it is still the price of artworks that is determining choices.?

Recovery for the Indian art market could be sooner than expected. Modi feels it will take another six to eight months, going by the indications of growth by the government. The latest report by London-based art market research firm ArtTactic says there is renewed confidence in the market, which it measures on a scale of 0 to 100. In May, it had pegged the confidence level to be at 20 for the Indian art market, which increased to 49 in November. There is also greater confidence for big spends. The ArtTactic survey showed that there was no faith in the top end of the modern Indian art market in May, which by October saw a quarter of the respondents expressing interest in art priced over $5,00,000. While Modern Indian art?usually works by major artists ?continues to find favour, some still believe that the Contemporary Indian art market will decline.

Auction sales figures this year tell their own story. Leading Indian auction house SaffronArt saw sales worth Rs 7.8 crore in its March auction, against an estimate of Rs 13.2 crore, while its September auction exceeded its estimated Rs 16.4 crore with sales worth Rs 17.5 crore. Michelle D?Souza, director of London?s Lisson Gallery, had come with no expectations of selling anything, leave alone the two Anish Kapoor works on show, which did sell. With artworks worth Rs 400 million attracting buyers and connoisseurs in a huge display space, it was an extensive blend of traditional and contemporary art media. Of the 54 participating galleries, 18 were international, up from three last year, indicative of the huge potential of the Indian market getting acknowledged by the global community.

Prajit Dutta of Aicon Gallery, London and New York, who came for the first time for IAS-2, sees a growing potential in the Indian art market. He admits he came to India to showcase global art rather than taking Indian art to the global market. ?It?s still early days for the Indian art market, as it just forms 1% of the global art market. Yet, it?s an achievement if you look at the current GDP of the country,?says Dutta.

Critics of the late art windfall called for ?Introspection?. Surprisingly, it happened too. Galleries, which had been blamed for being too greedy, poaching artists from each other and lying low when the going got tough, have started getting their act together, looking beyond just sales. Many are now coming out to take their rightful places in creating art infrastructure and increasing awareness about an artist?s creativity rather than their selling price. New magazines and journals, private museums, art stores in malls, seminars and other activities have been more visible during the second half of 2009. The National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA) opened its ambitious, but much delayed wing in Delhi and also opened in Bangalore. IAS, too, promises to travel to other cities beyond its annual summit in Delhi. Manjit Bawa recorded his highest-ever price ever. Art funds, however, continue to take a beating.

As part of her effort, Modi started ?Video Wednesdays?, aimed at reaching out to local communities through new-age, cutting-edge, media. In the past one year, 36 artists have already been featured. To mark the completion of two decades of Gallery Espace, Modi organised an extensive show at the Lalit Kala Academy. Lo Real Maravilloso (Marvellous Reality) based on the theme of magic realism, includes in its gamut video art, paintings, photography, site-specific installations and sculptures by artists from across the globe.

The results of Saffronart?s recent auction, which had sales of Rs 20 crore, marked the debut of Saffronart?s auction application on the iPhone. It also re-established winter as season of hope for the Indian art market.

Unlike the last season, the Indian art frat is confident the growth fillip will acquire brighter hues in the coming year. And art will not be just a commodity.

Perspectives

* The high point of the year was perhaps the India Art Summit. A record 57 galleries participated, displaying about 400 artworks. Sales totalled Rs 26 crore, but the biggest gain was the return – of the buyer to at least see art again.

* Arguably the biggest collapse of the year was the closing down of the ambitiously launched Bodhi Arts. On the other hand, Chennai-based Apparao Galleries completed 25 successful years and Delhi?s Gallery Espace 20.

* Art funds too looked down. Among those impacted was Copal Art Fund, which launched in 2007 with a Rs 150 crore corpus. Osian?s has faced its share of flak too.

* The global scenario wasn?t too promising. Auction sales of contemporary art had grown more than eight-fold between 2003 and 2007, according to France-based database Artprice. However demand contracted in the fourth quarter of 2008, with Sotheby?s and Christie?s losing at least $50 million and $40 million respectively.

* Contemporary art suffered the most. Annual sales of global contemporary art slumped 75% at the two largest auction houses? evening sales in 2009 after they abandoned price guarantees to sellers. In India, experts estimate that while prices for Modern Art fell by about 30%, for Contemporary Indian Art, the fall was almost double, and recovery is expected to be much slower as well.

* Among the early major shows next year will be The Empire Strikes Back: Indian Art Today at London?s Saatchi Gallery on January 29. Works by 26 artists, including Atul Dodiya, Chitra Ganesh, Subodh Gupta, Jitish Kallat, Bharti Kher and TV Santhosh will be showcased.