NEW DELHI, Jan 1: While Tyeb Mehta was top-selling artist this past year, his contemporary V S Gaitonde remained the all-time most expensive artist in auctions held in India.
The country’s art market confidence ended 34 per cent higher than 12 months ago, according to art-market analysts ArtTactic, who said the confidence in the Indian market was highest since November 2007.
Mehta’s image of a trussed bull grossed over Rs 17 crore at Christie’s second India auction in December 2014 but did not surpass Gaitonde’s abstract landscape, which fetched over Rs 23 crore at the international auction house’s first sale inside the country.
Also Modernist painter Mehta’s “Blue Painting” sold for over Rs 11 crore at Sotheby’s London auction, which grossed Rs 46.4 crore.
The 1982 painting, by Mehta was bought by an anonymous bidder for nearly double its low estimate at the Modern and Contemporary South Asian Art sale, which realised a “superlative” total of USD 844,915.
At the same auction an important work by Akbar Padamsee also smashed its pre-sale estimate. Padamsee’s iconic 1952 painting “Prophet I” fetched more than three-times the low estimate when it sold for Rs 5.2 crore.
Raza’s “Church At Meulan” went for approx Rs 2.03 crore much more than its pre-auction estimate while a new world record was set for Delhi-based artist Mrinalini Mukherjee whose hemp work titled “Sri” (Deity) fetched Rs 9,726,120.
“Painting No 3” by Gaitonde sold for USD 2,517,000 at Sotheby’s New York sale in March. Bhupen Khakhar’s “Buffalo among Flower Bed” sold for USD 293,000 in the same auction.
Christie’s South Asian modern and contemporary art sale in New York realised USD 2,708,000 in sales with works from the collection of Shumita and Arani Bose selling to major collectors and institutions. Francis Newton Souza’s monumental masterpiece “The Butcher” achieved USD 1,685,000, the second highest price for the artist.
India had a share of 0.12 per cent of the global public auction sales in 2014, while in 2013 the sales in India accounted for 0.14 per cent of the global turnover, according to information by Art Stage Singapore, a premier flagship art fair of Southeast Asia.
The Asia Week sales in New York in March 2014 featured special exhibitions by 47 galleries as well as 19 sales at four auction houses, with works on show ranging from archaic Chinese bronzes to contemporary Indian painting.
Christie’s made USD 72 million in its eight public sales, while Sotheby’s totaled USD 56.1 million across its five auctions.
Mumbai-based auction house Saffronart set a new auction record for Jehangir Sabavala during its September 4 sale in Delhi. Sabavala’s 1971 work “Flight in Egypt 1” sold for Rs 3 crore (USD 500,000) against an estimate of Rs 80-90 lakhs (USD 133,335 – USD 150,000).
The top lot of the sale was a major work by S H Raza entitled “La Terre” which sold for Rs 8.17 crore (USD 1.36 million) against an estimate of Rs 5-7 crore (USD 833,335 – 1,166,670).
In online auction house AstaGuru’s September auction the company broke the record for the most expensive painting ever sold online.
The record was set with the cover lot of the sale, S H Raza’s “Bhoomi,” which sold for Rs 5.3 crores against an estimate of Rs 4 crore to Rs 6 crore (USD 689,655 – USD 1,034,483).
AstaGuru also set a new auction record for one of India’s leading woman contemporary artist, Anjolie Ela Menon. Menon’s “Jharokha” fetched Rs 88.9 lakhs against an estimate of Rs 60-80 lakhs.
A painting of a Great Indian fruit bat, also known as the flying fox, sold for over Rs 4.6 crore at a Bonhams Islamic and Indian Art auction in London, which raked in total sales of 4.5 million pounds.
Bonhams sale of Islamic and Indian art in London saw strong results for Modern and Contemporary Asian art with five of the top ten items in the sale from across the Middle East to Indian region.
A rare and exquisite painting by Iraq’s foremost modernist painter Jewad Selim, depicting classical dancer Mrinalini Sarabhai sold for 170,000 pounds, over twice the top estimate.
“Walk on Earth,” an acrylic on canvas executed in 1983, by M F Husain achieved a price of 69,700 pounds in the sale.
Artworks by modern Indian artists like Sabavala, Subramanyan, Husain and Raza among others went under the hammer in first live auction in over a decade by Saffronart, which realised a total of Rs 8.12 crore (USD 1,268,813).
A 1968 acrylic painting by F N Souza titled “The Man from After” fetched top bid. The sale, which Saffronart termed a “White Glove” achieved 100 per cent sales and exceeded the total high estimate of Rs 3.35 crore (USD 5,24,000).
Saffronart’s February sale in Mumbai included a 1951 gouache on paper by S H Raza “Haut De Cagnes” which sold amidst fierce competitive bidding at Rs 5.75 crore, the most expensive paperwork by an Indian artist ever sold at auction.
Pundole’s March auction offered 91 lots, divided into Asian antiquities including a selection of 10th and 11th century’s figurines and works by Progressive Artists such as Souza and Husain.
The sale also featured period furniture and collectibles, including some rare art deco, colonial and silver pieces.
An auction record was set for the price per carat for a sapphire when a 17.16-carat Kashmir sapphire and diamond ring sold for USD 4.06 million or USD 236,404 per carat at Sotheby’s Hong Kong on October 7. The same sale also saw a world auction record being set for a fancy 8.41 carat vivid pink diamond sold for USD 17.76 million.
A rare step-cut Kashmir sapphire in rich velvety blue fetched a world record at a Sotheby’s auction in Geneva, for USD 6 million.
The gem was purchased by a buyer from Asia, auctioneers said. Previous record was set by a Kashmir sapphire weighing 28.18 carats, when it sold for USD 5,093,000 at Sotheby’s New York in April 2014.
Over 40 iconic Modern Indian artworks raked in about Rs 50 crores at a charity auction, conducted by Delhi Art Gallery The sale included 70 lots by masters like Jamini Roy, Husain, Raza and Souza, sourced from DAG’s collection.
Bangalore-based auction house Bid and Hammer put up for sale a total of 86 works ranging between 8th century to the 20th century. It was part of events that marked 100 years of enterprise of Dadha group, which backs the auction house.
The year 2014 also saw art gallery owners and other art industry representatives from the country calling for the creation of a national regulatory authority to crack down on counterfeit artworks in the market.
Apart from Gaitonde, Mehta, Raza, Souza and Husain, artists like Anish Kapoor, Raqib Shaw, Atul Dodiya, Ravinder Reddy, Jitish Kallat etc were among the sought after contemporary artists.
Anish Kapoor’s auction turnover in 2014 was pegged at USD 10.8 million, making him by far the best performing India-born artist on the secondary market according to ArtStage, which pointed out that most of his works were sold in London (nearly (60 per cent) and New York (26 per cent).
Sotheby’s New York sale in March saw “Sweatopia 1” by Jitish Kallat going under the hammer for USD 221,000.
A clutch of 10 leading contemporary artists had donated artworks to be sold at Christie’s second India auction to benefit Khoj, an artist residency.
Works of masters like Husain, Jamini Roy and Manjit Bawa featured in a unique auction by Osian’s Group titled “All Creatures Great and Small.” The sale celebrated animals in Indian and Asian fine arts, antiquities, crafts, books, prints, photographs and films. (PTI)
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