Taking It All In

Photo by Michael Rubenstein

Anupam Poddar sits near Subodh Gupta’s fiberglass sculpture “Rani” (2001).

Ramkinkar Baij Nandalal Bose Marcel Duchamp Subodh Gupta Bharti Kher Sayed Haider Raza Sudarshan Shetty Vivan Sundaram

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For Anupam Poddar, India's leading contemporary-art collector, being surrounded by works of art is not a luxury. It is a way of life.

NEW DELHI—It is no secret that the market for Indian contemporary art is expanding, both internationally and on the subcontinent, selling briskly in salesrooms and in galleries. But many observers may not know one of the key players in this vibrant scene: Anupam Poddar. In just a few years, this young New Delhi–based collector has acquired hundreds of works by artists from India, and along the way has helped draw international attention to the Indian art scene while remaining committed to supporting it locally.

The 34-year-old Poddar is tall and poised, with a manner both courtly and informal. His family, from Rajasthan, made its fortune in the paper industry and also owns a luxury resort, the Devi Garh, in a restored 18th-century palace near the city of Udaipur. Poddar oversees hotel operations, but lately he has devoted much of his energy to establishing a not-for-profit contemporary-art foundation—the first such institution in India—and adding to his collection. Whether the works are displayed at the foundation or in his Delhi residence, the idea is to “promote India,” he says.

Although he is a major player in contemporary Indian art, Poddar seems immune to the speculation-driven frenzy that currently characterizes that market. He insists he does not acquire pieces as investments. “I am very glad that certain Indian artists can live well from their work,” he says. “But, unfortunately, there are a lot of people who listen to the market too much, and some artists content themselves with repeating the same works over and over again simply to meet the demand.”

Poddar makes his purchases mainly through Indian dealers, including Gallery Chemould, in Mumbai; Nature Morte, in Delhi; and Gallery Ske, in Bangalore. Fairs, he claims, are worth visiting and he does attend such events “to see art, but it is not really a context in which I like buying.” As for auctions: “What’s on offer there doesn’t correspond to what interests me.”

What does interest Poddar is art that is challenging and often provocative. He displays these works throughout his Delhi residence, an expansive concrete-and-glass structure designed by the architect Inni Chatterjee and completed in 1996. It’s something of a family compound: His parents, major collectors in their own right, live on the first floor, while his brother resides in a separate house on the other side of the garden. Poddar himself occupies the floor above his parents. Shortly after moving in, he began acquiring art avidly, and every room, even those occupied by other family members, is filled with artworks that he has selected.

“There is much care that goes into choosing what is installed,” he says. “It is important for me to be continuously interested in the work and able to live with it.” One acquisition that a less-adventurous connoisseur might relegate to the garage—Sudarshan Shetty’s Love, 2006, a massive stainless-steel sculpture of a T. rex skeleton with a mechanized phallus thrusting continually against the bumper of a cream-colored vintage convertible—is given pride of place in the main reception room. On this day, the metal beast’s repeated movements cause a glass on a nearby table to rock. The outrageous contraption is humorous, but Poddar also perceives a poignancy in it. “The artist is dealing with the question of love, and perhaps also its disappearance. The Tyrannosaurus, after all, is extinct.”

Such large-scale pieces can create logistical problems, but Poddar is willing to adjust his living space to accommodate art. “Often I have installed a work that I like even if it meant getting rid of furniture!” he exclaims.

The house might feel like a museum if it were less comfortable. Patterned rugs are scattered across the stone floors, and low plush sofas offer vantages from which to view artworks as well as the leafy, parklike grounds. “The house is ‘curated’ in the sense that I select artists whose works I want people to see,” Poddar says. “I try to set up a dialogue between the works in a room.”