It is not often that the first lady of Indian art dons the role of a curator, but when she does, Anjolie Ela Menon never fails to surprise. So as guests gushed over Tyeb Mehta’s Woman on Rickshaw and FN Souza’s Head at the Taj Mahal Hotel, it took Menon to tell them that the works were not original, but digital reproductions on canvas.

“They are so close to the original that it is difficult to distinguish,” says Menon, as she recollects two years of hard work that went into the exhibition “Kalpana: Masterpieces of Figurative Indian Painting”. It had reproductions of two figurative works each by 14 Indian artists, including Jamini Roy, Amrita Sher-Gil, Krishen Khanna and Manjit Bawa. “With the reproductions, we intend to reach out to a global audience,” says Menon, who has handed over five sets of the 28 reproductions to the Indian Council for Cultural Relations to display at their centres world over. Menon, who had sourced the original canvases from private galleries, the National Gallery of Modern Art and artists’ studios, admits that exhibiting them would have cost a lot more money and energy.

This was a one-off project for Menon, but for several others in the Indian art mart, serigraphs that involves silk-screen printing, offset reproductions and computer-aided giclee prints are commonplace stuff.

“They make art affordable. Those who cannot buy the original can opt for high-quality, signed serigraphs,” says Parul Vadehra, director, Vadehra Art Gallery. Walk into her bookstore at Defence Colony and suspended on the walls are limited-edition serigraphs of Paramjit Singh and offsets prints of canvases by MF Husain, Ram Kumar and A Ramachandran, all priced at Rs 20,000 onwards. Vagabond, the 1956 oil on board by Ram Kumar, was sold for over $1 million at the Christie’s New York auction in March, but Vadehra has its signed, offset print on sale for Rs 30,000. “These are limited-edition and numbered. The prices tend to multiple over the years,” notes Vadehra.

Atit Trivedi, manager of Ahmedabad-based Archer Group, agrees. In the mid 1990s, his group arguably introduced India to serigraphs with reproductions of canvases from Husain’s Madhuri-Maqbool series priced at Rs 1,000-2,000. His website is now selling serigraphs of Husain’s Jaisalmer series for Rs 85,000, but in the Bonhams auction in 2006 it sold for over Rs 1 lakh. “The connoisseurs are a little sceptical about reproductions but the interest is gradually growing,” notes Trivedi, who witnessed a sale of above Rs 5 lakh at the recent India Art Summit.

Lavesh Jagasia of The Serigraph Studio, whose portfolio comprises serigraphs of artists like Jogen Chowdhury, SH Raza, Lalu Prasad Shaw and Ganesh Haloi, is now gearing up to add six more serigraphs of Jehangir Sabavala to the set of 18 released last year. Titled The Complete Collection, the set will be priced at about Rs 29 lakh and released at the Seoul International Art Fair this month. “The artists are involved at every stage, from choosing the work to giving the nod of approval before the serigraph is exhibited,” says Jagasia who is planning to rope in younger Indian artists for the Dubai chapter of The Serigraph Studio.

Meanwhile, international artists are calling on India with their reproductions. An exhibition by The Fuschia Tree that is currently on at The Attic, Connaught Place, has on display giclee prints of works by UK-based Van Renselar, Peru’s Jose De La Barra and Dane Willers from Botswana, among others. If the original 32 x 42 inch Willers canvas Elephant Bull is available for Rs 2.6 lakh, the 16 x 24 inch unsigned print is priced at Rs 7,875. “People may not be familiar with international artists but there is curiosity and the response is encouraging. These are ideal for those looking for reasonably priced art for their homes or offices,” says Chanda Chaudhary Barrai from Fuschia.

Tripat Kalra, director of Gallerie Nvya, notes that serious art collectors too have reproductions in their portfolio. Last year, her gallery released 30 sets of six serigraphs by Goan artist Viraj Naik, priced at Rs 20,000.

Though Menon is slightly apprehensive about allowing printers to convert her acrylics into pixels, Husain has given a go-ahead to Trivedi to release a scroll serigraph of his work Horses and Mother. “This will be released next year,” says Trivedi. The days when prints meant replicas on fragile sheets of paper are over.