The women who ruled ’08

Arpana Caur
Born in 1954, Arpana Caur has been one of India’s leading women artists for the past several decades. In 2008, her works became part of Connect: People, Place, Imagination, a collection of works at the Cartwright Hall Art Gallery, Bradford. Caur became part of an elite group of artists like Damien Hirst, Andy Warhol, Joshua Reynolds, Giorgio Vasari and David Hockney. In fact, Caur’s works are on display right next to Andy Warhol’s landmark pop-art Marilyn Monroe.

Her works are also on display at the Ethnographic Museum in Stockholm, Kust Museum in Dusseldorf, Victoria & Albert Museum in London, and Glenberra Museum in Japan. Caur has also founded a museum
dedicated to tribal arts right here in Delhi.

Anjolie Ela Menon
In 2000, Anjolie Ela Menon was awarded the Padma Shree for her contribution to Indian art. This 69-year-old artist is one of India’s most expensive and most coveted women artists. In an auction at Sotheby’s next month, her paintings will go under the hammer at a base price of $18,000-22,000. In 2006, the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, California, acquired Yatra, one of her most famous works.

Meenakshi Reddy Madhavan:
Though her book You Are Here received mixed reviews from critics, this blogger-turned-author was the highest talking point in the book world in 2008. Her blog The Compulsive Confessor gained unprecedented popularity, that led to her book deal with Penguin. Her book flew off the shelves soon after release. Given the fanfare around her book, Indian chick lit became a genre to be reckoned with.