Barclays Wealth has sponsored two contemporary Indian Art exhibitions: ‘The Mother Teresa Series’ by M F Husain and ‘The Five Rays of Raza’ by S H Raza. The two legends are founding members of the Progressive Art Movement and their work can now be seen together in their first UK show. 

It is not surprising that Barclays Wealth, like a lot of other financial institutions that GoldFinger speaks to, is keen on art from such parts of the world. As the UK firm notes, contemporary Indian art is booming – mirroring the Indian economy’s own ascent, with art prices rising by about 485 per cent. (It would, of course, be a mistake to fall into the trap of assuming that such rises are endless or a sure guide to the future).

In the mid-1990s, no Indian contemporary painting had sold at auction for more than £50,000 but now the top artists are fetching seven-figure sums, Barclays Wealth said.

Since launching regular Indian modern art sales in New York in 2000, worldwide sales in this category at Christie’s, the international auctioneers, for example, saw an increase from $660,000 to over $45 million by 2008.

The exhibitions are exclusive to Tanya Baxter Contemporary in the UK, and will be showcased at Barclays Wealth’s Brook Street offices on 10 and 11 December.  After opening at Barclays Wealth, the exhibition will move to the Mayfair gallery of Tanya Baxter Contemporary and Kings Road Gallery until 31 January 2010.

GoldFinger has certainly enjoyed several fantastic viewings of bank-sponsored art recently: an excellent collection of Picasso’s courtesy of Credit Suisse, and later, an eye-popping range of iconic 1960s rock and pop photography at the National Portrait Gallery, as sponsored by BNY Mellon. Recession or no, banks are still doing their bit to promote the visual arts.