Art Books,Pocket Priced

Like works of art,publications about art and artists come with a hefty price tag. But,in recent months,several publishers have made a concerted effort to reach out to lay readers through affordable books.

Known for its large-format coffee table books,Delhi Art Gallery (DAG) has made an entry into monographs with a series on artists (Rs 200 each) from the Progressive Group like MF Husain and SH Raza. In comparison,Continuum,a coffee table on the Progressives,that DAG launched at the Summit,is for Rs 6,000. “These monographs are easy to carry and have registered encouraging sales. We are selling an average of 10 copies a day,” says Ashish Anand,director of DAG.

“People now want to learn about art before investing in it. For starters,it makes sense to provide them with books that might not be fancy but have all the basic information. The price should not be a deterrent,” says Parul Vadehra,director,Vadehra Bookstore in Defence Colony in Delhi. The collection at the bookstore starts at Rs 175. Copies priced under Rs 1,000 include The Life and Times of Ganesh Pyne (Rs 295) and A Guide to 101 Modern and Contemporary Indian Artists by Amrita Jhaveri (Rs 850). For a synopsis on the history of art,read 10,000 Years of Art (Rs 575) or A Little History of the World (Rs 295).

Flipping through pages of paperbacks on Manjit Bawa,Raghu Rai and GR Santosh,which are part of a pocket art series published by Roli,Priya Kapoor of CMYK,a bookstore dedicated to art in Delhi’s Mehar Chand Market,states,“These books are fast selling and make for reasonably priced gifts.”

Before the bookstore launched,she travelled the world over to ensure an elaborate collection. As a result,you can pick up the Phaidon series on artists (Rs 526 for each book),filled with anecdotes and fluidly written observations on subjects ranging from Impressionism to artists like Pablo Picasso and Salvador Dali.

Bhatkal’s “The Dialogue Series” is reader-friendly. “Q&A makes for a simple read,” he observes. Planned over a period of two years,authors Ranjit Hoskote and Nancy Adajania have conducted a series of interviews with artists in different locations and at different points in time. “These are long discussions that took them back and forth,” says Bhatkal.