Perhaps the reason behind this phenomenon is that few care to distinguishbetween the caricature and the cartoon. The caricature is a distortion thathangs around a public figure, more often than not, one who is much moreimportant then the caricaturist. The caricature then hangs on some physicalpeculiarity of the person caricatured; but his or her importance farovershadows the work of the artist. In other words, the caricature dependson an extra-artistic factor to draw the viewer's attention.

This does not mean that the caricaturist's art is not accomplished. One hasonly to visit the annual caricature exhibition of The Hindustan Times to seethat a number of those producing caricatures are, in fact, accomplisheddraughtsmen. But draughtsmanship is not enough. For the work to be a work ofart, it must be aesthetically sound. So sound, in fact, that the caricaturerecedes into the greater scheme of things that the artist communicates.

One of the artists most adept at this is M F Husain, a number of whoseworks, like his portraits of Nehru, Maulana Azad (with his sherwani flyingwantonly open), Charlie Chaplin, Gandhi, Buster Keaton, Madhuri Dixit andeven Hitler, may singly be seen as caricatures, but their arrangement innarrative sequences raises them above any one of the individualsportrayed.

Given the powerful continuity of line, and a minimal use of colour, theystand as independent works of art. Not surprisingly, they range in pricefrom five to six figures. For example, cartoons Husain made for the 1994elections, featuring among others, Amitabh Bachchan, sold at prices aroundRs 60,000 to Rs 80,000 some five years ago.

Gaganendranath Tagore's cartoons, on the other hand, concentrate on thewhole of the image, reminiscent of Central European cartoonists like BrunoPaul, Max Beckmann and others, but with a bolder execution reflecting theKalighat scroll-painters. A good Gaganendranath cartoon-and one that can befirmly said to be an original, for there are fakes enough-can be priced atclose to Rs 1 lakh or more today. The price would vary generally between Rs70,000 and Rs 80,000 even for those works that are not in very goodcondition. Good fakes sell cheaper, of course.

These are not the only ones that command a price. Abu Abraham's exquisiteline drawings, with equally apt terse comments to go with them, arecollector's items today. Not many come up for sale, but one would price anoriginal in good condition at anywhere between Rs 20,000 and Rs 60,000,depending on the size and subject matter. In fact, a good art investor woulddo well to scout around for Abu's cartoons, collect them, get a monographwritten and then market them. For the market of any object depends onwhether there are enough of a certain standard to sell, and whether theyhave a recognisably original style. Abu's cartoons fulfill both theserequirements. As such, one would expect them to be called art objects worthinvesting in. In fact, one might acquire them even at half the pricequoted.

Also, Abu appears to have had an influence even on artists like JogenChoudhury, with his corpulent figures. So it is not surprising to expectcartoons of such quality to command a price in the future. One hopes somegallery or art promoter will take up the job of collecting the cartoons ofAbu Abraham and then get a proper monograph done on the development of hisstyle and content over the years.

Among other cartoonists whose works can be collected is SubramaniamBharathi, whose cartoons were published largely between 1906-1910. Thenthere are the cartoons of Shankar, the founder of Shankar's Weekly. Thereare the cartoons of D V Vijaya, especially those with a sweep of the brush.For sheer detail, there is nothing like the cartoons of R K Laxman, a blendbetween our modern simplified expression and the multiple centres ofattraction as in the work of the 18th century cartoonist, Hogarth. Thenthere are the works of younger cartoonists like Unny, Sudhir Tailang andRavi Shankar, whose demolition of India's globalising elite in the form ofRajiv Gandhi makes a collection in itself. One cartoonist whose workcollectors would do well to collect is Irfan Hussain, tragically murdered inthe prime of his life. His cartoons about globalisation and saffronisationmake a very good collection indeed.

Curiously enough, however, women cartoonists seem to be a rare species, withManjula's feminist heroine making a sound bid to be seriously collected. Infact, investment apart, a collection of the best cartoons by goodcartoonists, which are cut out from the newspapers, will themselves havevalue as collectors' items if a proper sequence is preserved. What one needsis collectors with an eye for what to collect. And Indian cartoons, with arich history going back to the early 19th century, are an admirable basis,not only for art investment, but also for underlining the history ofstylistic changes and those of expression in our art.