The artworks are held by a private Japanese collector, Masanori Fukuoka. He is giving art lovers here a peek of his vast collection with 18 works by Indian master Jogen Chowdhury at ARTSingapore, an art fair now on at Suntec City.

The 55-year-old Japanese tycoon, who made his fortune from a tinned fish business, has over 1,000 Indian artworks housed in his privately owned Glenbarra Art Museum in Himeji, near Kobe, in Japan. The museum is open to the public.

Among his rare art pieces are works by leading Indian artists such as M.F. Husain, V.S. Gaitonde, Tyeb Mehta and Chowdhury.

Despite being publicity-shy, Mr Fukuoka spoke to Life! on Thursday during a visit to Singapore to show part of his Chowdhury collection.

When asked what appealed to him about the art -works, he said: 'I bought them because I liked them. I know it might sound a bit strange, but when I look at Chowdhury's works today, so many remain mysterious to me.'

On the way Indian art was priced when he first started buying, he said: 'In the 1990s, I bought works by F.N. Souza and Gaitonde for something like Rs 2 lakh (S$6,150). I felt the price for Indian art was too low. These masters had struggled so much and their work deserved more attention, in terms of price and exposure.'

Read the full story in Saturday's edition of The Straits Times' Life!