At the same time, developments in the art world in Paris marked completely new beginnings. The revolt against the academic Salon system and the organising of independent exhibitions in the 1880s by artists like Renoir, Monet and Degas changed the career pattern of the professional artist forever. The exhibition artist became established as the new typereplacing both the court artist and the artist who maintained a commercial studio accepting commissions. Galleries got institutionalised and the public replaced the wealthy as the main recipient for works of art and the new power in the art world. The development of exhibitions from festive events and public holidays to an exclusive and important medium for the presentation of art was another decisive and consequential change in the 20th century art world. Success at an exhibition became the main criterion by which prospective buyers, patrons and perhaps the artists themselves, judged.

By the mid-20th century Pundole and Chemould Art Gallery in Bombay were showing substantial bodies of work by individual artists. A new generation --Husain, Ara, Gaitonde, Raza, Padamsee and Tyeb Mehta were discovering their own formula of expression, and journalistic art critics like Charles Fabri and Richard Bartholomew were steering public opnion. Like everywhere else in the world, in India too, the exhibition had becomethe arena where the artist fought for recognition and success.

We don't realise it but all artists today have to work towards exhibitions and address their work to the general public and to the critics. Exhibitions are not only about displays, lighting, catalogues, rents, price labels and previews but have become the most potent forum for the acceptance or rejection of works of art. There are no set rules for production and artists have to define, legitimise and finance all their own work, at their own risk. To be successful, the artist is forced to win from the exhibition-going public followers of a like mind, buyers, patrons and media support. Further, an object or activity does not become art just because the producer offers it and declares it to be so. It needs the commentators, the theoreticians who provide the textual content, the media, the viewers, the buyers and the collectors. What is exhibited becomes art only with the consensus of all these persons.

So then, what is an exhibition? Is it likeentering a theatre or a cinema hall -- a special place outside normal life which offers unusual experience? Is an exhibition an uncluttered site for arts contemplation -- a place of mystical communication between the artist and the viewer? Or is it a place, a confluence of artistic practice, aesthetic theorising, promotional skill and business acumen where all participants are unmeshed in personal and economic relations?

Czaee Shah is an art collector.