That explains why Anuradha Ghosh Mazumdar is a senior cataloguer at Sotheby’s, New York.
In the sixth grade, most of our ambitions and free afternoons centered around how to skip the next day’s homework. Anuradha Ghosh Mazumdar meanwhile stood in a snaking queue in the pouring rain, outside a gallery in Kolkata, waiting to see a special exhibition on sculptor Rodin. Oh yeah, she was also in the sixth grade. It’s fitting that her career today is an extension of that queue.
As senior cataloguer of the Indian and Southeast Asian Art section at Sotheby’s New York, her childhood interest in the temple architecture in Chennai and the cultural overdose of Kolkata are just added perks. “I moved to New York in 1998 and sought the opinion of curators and other professionals who encouraged me to pursue a degree in museum studies.”
Leaving behind a large extended family scattered all over India (“I especially miss my parents and sister!”) Anuradha was recruited at Sotheby’s when the Indian and Southeast Asian department was being re-staffed. As senior cataloguer, she has more to do than just stare at pretty paintings all day long. “During sales, work gets quite manic! I’d sum up my job in two words — client servicing.”
Like most ex-pat Bengalis, Anuradha is well versed in Rabindrasangeet (Tagore’s school of music). “Art is central to my life and my job does take up a lot of my time, but I try to achieve a (sometimes elusive) balance between work and home, family and friends.” That also includes indulging the bookworm in her — reading everything from classics and thrillers to poetry and historical novels. “And, of course, like any self-respecting Indian I enjoy reading works by Indian authors.”
While she misses the sights, sounds and smells of hometown Kolkata, she’s also enjoying the headiness of being involved intrinsically with Indian art in its hey days. “I recently attended a lecture at the Brooklyn museum on Indian jewellery. Everyone in the room had either been to India recently or was planning a trip, and they were all asking me questions about the boom in modern Indian art.”
She also breaks misconceptions about its success. It isn’t just canvasses that are ringing the cash registers. “Video and digital art and sculptures and installations by contemporary artists are regularly being featured at art shows and international exhibitions. They’re also included at international shows — the Venice Biennale and the Art Basel among others.”
s_rituparna@dnaindia.net
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