Akbar Padamsee, Untitled (Mirror Image), Lot 424. Estimate: $600,000-800,000 Image Courtesy: Christie’s.

At Christie’s Asian Art Week, works by artists, including Vasudeo S. Gaitonde, Tyeb Mehta, Adi Davierwalla, Akbar Padamsee, Jehangir Sabavala, Ganesh Pyne, Manjit Bawa, and others, will go under the hammer at the South Asian Modern + Contemporary art auction in Rockefeller Center.

Manjit Bawa, Untitled (Krishna and Cow), Lot 475. Image Courtesy: Christie’s. Estimate: $350,000-500,000.

The auction will offer a total of 76 lots led by an important work painted by Vasudeo S. Gaitonde (1924-2001) in 1996. ‘Untitled’ (Lot 414) is an incandescent painting from 1996; while immediately striking, it maintains the restrained balance of light, texture, colour, and space that the artist perfected over the course of his career.

VS Gaitonde, Untitled *1996). Image Courtesy: Christie’s. Estimate: $2,800,000-3,500,000.

Against a ground methodically layered in tones of vermillion, orange and yellow, Gaitonde inscribes a series of enigmatic hieroglyphic forms that seem almost like embers scorched into the translucent surface, pulsating with a unique meaning for each viewer (estimate: $2,800,000-3,500,000).An advocate of Zen Buddhism, Gaitonde saw painting as a spiritual endeavour and not something to be rushed, either in conception or execution. He painted, on average, just five or six canvases a year.

Maqbool Fida Husain, Untitled, Lot 452, Estimate: $200,000-300,000
The auction will take place September 13 at Christie’s, 20 Rockefeller Center, New York, 10 am.
Credits – https://www.architecturaldigest.in/content/indian-modernist-masterpieces-go-hammer-christies-auction-new-york/#s-cust0

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After flooring the buyers at Christie’s auction, his work now fetches great price in online auction

Tyeb Mehta continues to rock the international art market. After the highest price his untitled work of a rickshaw puller fetched at Christie’s summer auction on 9 June, another untitled work by him fetched a high price in online auction.

His Untitled (Kali) was sold at the SaffronArt online auction on Thursday for $1,317,161, three times its high estimate. Measuring 30×24 inches, it is considerably smaller than the one sold at Christies, which measured 58¾x47 inches

This is one of the three Kali paintings by Mehta. It is interesting to note that despite its strong subject matter, as opposed to its rather beautiful counterpart at Christie’s, it still sold higher than any expectation.

An undisclosed bidder punted an unprecedented $1 million through a mobile phone, though he was not the winning bidder. In all, there were 23 bids on Mehta, whose reserve was $2,87,360 to $4,02,300. Earlier, at the Christie’s auction, Mehta’s Untitled (rickshaw puller) sold for $3,238,103. It was sold to an ‘international’ first-time buyer, indicating that Western collectors may finally be awakening to the gap in the prices of paintings by Indian masters, as opposed to their counterparts in China.

This was the highest ever paid for a Mehta painting and the second highest paid for an Indian artist. That record is still held by SH Raza’s Saurashtra, which sold in the same sale last year for $3,486,965.

A healthy 52 per cent of lots in the SaffronArt sale went over high estimate, showing that the appetite of rich collectors is still strong. There is a growing sentiment that important pieces of Indian art are becoming a valuable asset class in themselves. Their soaring prices at international auctions continue to solidify their legitimacy as viable investment propositions.

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The man who celebrated Mahishasura and torched a new high at Christie’s with Times of India’s Celebration. Celebration, like the Shantiniketan triptych done a decade earlier, drew inspiration from the Charak festival, the spring festival of the Santhals. However, unlike the Santiniketan triptych that juxtaposes life and death, the work focused on the celebratory aspects of the festival and life itself.

The painting did not mark so much of a shift in emphasis, but a culmination of an experience. Images of torture and carnage, while not forgotten were instead transcended. They form the very stuff from which this Celebration derived meaning: as in alchemy, the dross had become gold. Celebration fetched a high of $317,500, in 2002—therein beginning Tyeb’s tryst with destiny, in the world of auctions.

M F Husain

The face of Indian contemporary art, living in exile since 2006, after his Bharat Mata bombed at an exhibition in Delhi. Yet, Husain’s best period was his early and middle ones. His Mahabharata, Ganesha and Mahabali series being the fountainhead of contemporary reality. Often using the presence of a group of women and elephants to heighten the importance of the central figure, the structure of the grouping accentuated the monumental character of the individual figures he chose to represent.

While surrealistic juxtaposition and displacement of associated symbols heightened the ambiguity of his pictorial world, Husain frequently invested the human form with an archaic and timeless feeling. He depicts them as if abstracted from time and renders them along with the signs and symbols. However, what arrests the eye is the nature of sensual reality he transformed with zeal. Sex, if seen as a final analysis, took an abstract form, viewed as an element within the equation — an instrumentation for seeking and establishing identity.

Bose Krishnamchari (Artist curator)

HE is India’s Vik Munz. His ideas are simple—as an artist curator-he goes wild, picking and choosing from the nation’s artist’s studios—and in every endeavour he tries to reflect his process of discovery and an eclectic elegance. Curating for Bose Krishnamachari is about a sense of play and a cohesive focus-in which one work reverberates into the next, to create “a residual effect.”

Guest curator at ARCO Madrid, with 20 years of work behind him, Bose handles crating in the context of a philatelic feel. Straightforward, forthright and now a face of BMB Gallery in Mumbai, his shows like Double Enders and National Highway have proved that curating is not merely gathering works to reflect a bazaar, but discovering and reflecting resonances beyond the obvious.

T V Santosh

Known as India’s Zen monk, Santhosh’s untiring search for an understanding of the state of world politics, war and media is expressed most effectively in his paintings and installations. Reconstructing ideas from a science fiction film, the evocative Last Supper or even Hitler’s dogs, Santos uses his signature style of turning a positive photographic image into its negative and creating paintings and installations that have an eerily surreal quality.

In his paintings, he deliberately eliminates the details of anything specific or local in the image and the subject takes on a much grander scale and, like most of his recent works, addresses the universal concerns of war, terrorism and violence.

His art leaves a lasting impression on its viewer and implores the audience to re-evaluate the politics of war and terrorism — a plea to identify the real enemy.

S H Raza

The abstractionist who lives in Paris and has recently finished a show in London. “The English name they’ve given my show is The Five Rays of Raza, But for me, my work represents ‘panchtatva’ or the five elements’.” It was in the 1970’s that Raza began his sojourn into the world of the Bindu.

In a strictly formal sense, Raza’s style seems to bear some relation to the Abstract Expressionist work of Frank Stella and Jasper Johns. However, while these artists were part of a theoretical discussion on the Formalist movement, Raza’s work addresses a more spiritual context.

The circle becomes less of a graphical component and more of a focal point representing concentrated energy. This concept has age-old precedents in meditative aids such as yantras and mandalas. And age has caught up with Raza, in a quaint departure from his usual. Raza confessed to Muzaffar Ali, at his birthday bash at Taj Mahal Hotel in Delhi, two years ago, that he wanted to marry a 19-year-old Bengali girl.

Jogen Chowdhury

The master of the contour. The most successful practitioner from the Bengal School. The satirist who creates folds out of skin. Jogen Chowdhury smiles as he creates and viewers can sense that his mood is lighthearted, even as he plays with the human figure. His lines are bold and free and his canvases in particular show a simplification of composition with a deceptive depth in textural terrain. The brilliant colours associated with the rural folk art traditions of Bengal appear in his work as two-dimensional linear forms set as bold planes of background colour replace his earlier sculpted human forms. Characterized by his elongated, caricature figures and preference for highly decorative surfaces, Jogen’s art draws equally from the natural and the psychological.

Sometimes a work can be a curious mix of still life and movement that contributes to an almost hypnotic effect. Jogen had once said: “There is also a tremendous power in the stillness of an object. A force that is no less than apparently an object in great speed. Stillness is a form of a speed while not in force. It has the possibility of the force in a different form.”

Sumedh Rajendran

Most intriguing was his show Chemical Smuggle at Vadehras in Delhi. He combines materials and compositions with an intricate élan. At the Christie’s Asian Contemporary and Chinese Art Auction, Hong Kong, 2008, his work went for a whopping HK$271,500 / ($34,955).Titled Promised and Them, the two wooden and steel sculptures had about them an elegant restraint as well as a gravitas of metaphoric moorings.

Deeply philosophic and equally at ease with literary contexts, it was his project for Khoj entitled Pseudo Homelands exhibited at Lahore, which made people sit up and take notice. His explanation ranked of wit and the insight of T.S. Eliot. “In landscapes marginalized by the hierarchy of power structure, negotiation is a mere theatre. In this maze of divisions and subjugations, that we tend to perceive as social harmony is only unexplained tragedies.” His titles too must be read in the context of what he wishes to state. But Sumedh becomes participant and observer. Betrayal Flush, More Dead Than Alive and Some Hard Hunger—each title is a personification of deep contemplative ideologies and thoughts.

Some Hard Hunger reflects a dog with an open jawline—the barrel shaped object that shapes the jawline is what entices the powerful relief sculpture, dealt with the phenomenon of a stifled and angst ridden urban existence—the paradoxes of patterns in the living and those who merely exist .

Subodh Gupta

He made Indian steel bartans fashionable. From his human skull called Very Hungry God to his Three Monkeys-Subbed Gupta invited viewers into his signature of vessels for Indian art. Almost like entering a vast Indian kitchen in perpetual, dizzying motion, his medium of towering tiffin bartans became the Subodh signature. His installations, typical of his deceptively simple works made of everyday objects, manages to refer to stereotypes of Indian life, rapidly changing routines in a global economy, and key historical cross-cultural exchanges.

International writers say Subodh Gupta’s post-modernist ideas channel far-ranging influences from Marcel Duchamp, Josef Beuys, Claes Oldenburg and Andy Warhol. However, his artistic vocabulary is firmly rooted in the vernacular of everyday India. Gupta – appropriation artist — ironically states, “I am the idol thief. I steal from the drama of Hindu life. Hindu kitchens are as important as prayer rooms. These pots are like something sacred, part of important rituals, and I buy them in a market. They think I have a shop, and I let them think it. I get them wholesale.”

Pushpamala

She is India’s most successful women artist for her ability to exploit the genre of her own portrait in her works. Her first solo (outside India) at Bose Pacia, New York was in 2004, before which she held her audiences with Phantom Lady or Kismet (1996-98). Shot mostly in night time Mumbai, the series has a rich, film-noir atmosphere and a surreal, Bollywood-style narrative structure that can be reshuffled for different showings. Pushpamala N. is chief actor as well as director, and she has a charismatic on-camera presence.

She played both the sisters in Phantom Lady with aplomb, and brought the same qualities to Golden Dreams (1998), a kind of woman-having-a-nervous-breakdown tale of romance and entrapment that concluded with the heroine holding an invisible opponent at gunpoint. She played with tints — the original black-and-white prints were hand coloured, giving them a slightly antique look, as was true of the 10 pictures in The Anguished Heart (2002), and a story of lost love that might have come straight from a Satyajit Ray film.

Jiten Thukral and Samir Tagra

The most happening duo on the auction scene-collaborating for the past 9 years. Jiten Thukral and Samir Tagra address issues in urban India through a variety of stylistic devices and media. Drawing from pop culture, history and street life, they present a graphic theatrical element in their works. Be it in the form of sculptures, paintings and installations, aesthetically speaking their works have a very ‘un-Indian’ and distinct leitmotif.

According to them their ‘un-Indian’ aesthetic has come naturally. When they look around everything is inspired, influenced and pursued with ‘un-Indian aesthetics’. They were trained as communication designers, their education being a mix of art and design principles. Observing and creating have become a part of their routine. The titles of their works have an edge of dramatis personae-Pscho Acoustics-01,Vector Classics,2005, Phone Now + 91 114174 0215- this is the reality of an urbanesque urge.

7 Jan 2010
Uma Nair
Economic Times

Aashu Maheshwari – One of the artists i would like to mention herein is “Jitesh Kallat” and his contribution to Indian Art.Also would mention Anju Dodiya and Atul Dodiya for their immence contribution to Indian Art.

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The week of Asian art auctions that ended Thursday afternoon in New York offered early signs that some collectors, largely from China and India, are returning to the market in search of rare or discounted artworks.

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Jitish Kallat, Dawn Chorus- 7, 2007. Photo: Christie’s Images Ltd 2009.

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So much has happened since the beginning of the crisis, it is worth recapping the timeline. Lehman Brothers declared bankruptcy on September 15th, 2008. The filing set off a chain of events that provoked the United States government to fashion what would become a huge financial bailout plan and prompt coordinated global action by the world’s leading central banks. But the failure of the Congress to pass the government’s bailout plan expeditiously caused the world’s credit markets to freeze which, in turn, caused stock markets to fall to dramatic lows in the US on October 10th.

The period from September 15th to October 10th neatly brackets the Asia Week sales in both New York and Hong Kong. Judging the performance of sales that took place within the rapid re-pricing of assets is difficult to do, since the sales were assembled in a vastly different economic climate. Although the number of lots offered and the estimates placed upon those lots are a function of longer term trends of supply and demand, (which would suggest that short-term shifts in global financial markets would have little effect on the results) the surrounding events were too great not to have directly influenced the sales.
The dramatic worldwide de-leveraging caused by the end of the credit bubble created a volatile environment surrounding the sales. It would be naive to think buying decisions on Asian art and works of art were not made in the context of this economic uncertainty. The stock market in Hong Kong reached a short term low on October 10th only to fall another 25% before reaching its deepest lows on October 27th. It has since recovered but to a level 30% lower than before the sales. Clearly Hong Kong buyers had a reason to be cautious.

Nonetheless, Asia Week in New York had a combined sale value of $77 million across nearly a dozen separate sales at Sotheby’s and Christie’s. Nearly 60% of the lots on offer at both houses were sold. At Sotheby’s, $26 million of Asian art and works of art were sold, which represents 63% of the lots on offer, slightly more than the combined sell-through. However, it was the first time in three years that the sell-through at Sotheby’s New York Asia Week fell below 70%.
In Hong Kong, nearly $113 million in Asian Art and Works of Art were sold at Sotheby’s alone. There were slightly more than a thousand lots in the combined sales and 64% of those lots found buyers for an average lot value of $175,264.

Significant SalesNew YorkEven in an uncertain market there will always be works of great or even unexpected value. In Sotheby’s New York sales, the most hotly contested lots were a set of ‘Zitan’ armchairs from the Qing dynasty (early 18th Century) that sold for $332,500 above a high estimate of $180,000; a Japanese gilt-wood seated figure of Yakushi Nyorai (10th/11th Century) that was sold for $290,500 above a high estimate of $120,000; Zeng Fanzhi’s Mask Series painting which sold for $1.8 million; and Korean artist Kim Whanki’s Les Oiseux Volants from 1957 that sold for $434,500.

Among the works of South Asian and Southeast Asian art and works of art, there were some stunning sales. Tyeb Mehta’s Falling Figure with Bird sold for slightly more than $1.5 million, the upper end of the estimate range for this Modern Indian painter. Subodh Gupta has been in the middle of an auction frenzy for most of 2008, One Cow sold for $866,500 also above the work’s $800,000 high estimate.

Among the works of art, a 3rd Century Gandhara Bust of Buddha sculpted out of gray schist brought in $242,000, more than double the $90,000 high estimate; and a gilt copper Manjusri set made in Nepal in the 14th Century was sold for $182,500 against an $80,000 high estimate.
Hong KongIn Hong Kong, the emphasis was on works of art with an Imperial connection, classical Chinese painting and Southeast Asian Contemporary art. The Imperial Qing dynasty painting, Emperor Qianlong’s Review of the Grand Parade of Troops sold for $8.7 million, a record price. The highlight of the week was the estate of Emile Guimet’s sale of Imperial seals that brought $49 million with several of the works selling for prices well above the high estimates. The white jade “Qianlong Yubi” seal was sold for $8.1 million, also a record.
Among the works of art, a mallow-shaped Junyao Imperial flowerpot and matching stand from the early Ming Dynasty sold for nearly $950,000. A blue-and-white hexagonal vase with a Qianlong seal mark sold for almost $600,000, its connections to similar vases in museums in Beijing, Taipei and Tokyo set the benchmark for its value.

The sale of Fine Chinese Painting was also a success. Wu Guanzhong’s Along the Yangtze River achieved nearly twice the high estimate when it sold for just over $2 million. Some other very strong sales in the category were Wu Changshuo’s Blooming Flowers ($481,301) and Lin Fengmian’s Landscape ($434,972) which both sold for more than two times the high estimate.
Finally, Indonesian painters, like I Nyoman Masriadi who had several works sell for well above the high estimates, were standouts among the works of Contemporary Asian art in Hong Kong. The most valuable of these Indonesian works was The Man from Bantul (The Final Round) which was bought for $1 million, a record for the artist. But Masriadi was only one of many Indonesian painters, like Affandi, Agu Suwage, Handiwirman Saptura, Rudi Mantofani, Dipo Andy and Jumaldi Alfi, who made record sales. Several important Indonesian art collectors have created demand for these artists by educating their peers and attracting Contemporary Chinese art collectors to these Indonesian artists.

Market Trends

Given the unusual circumstances of the Asia Week sales, especially in Hong Kong, it is worth noting that the market seemed to drive in two different directions. A high premium was paid for the best quality works, particularly works with a connection to the Imperial throne. This is common theme in Chinese Works of Art where the continuing accumulation of wealth in China has created an appetite for objects with Emperor’s imprimatur.
In the world of Contemporary art, there was also an emphasis on quality. Although the sale of Contemporary Chinese art saw many lots fail to find buyers, the lots that did sell maintained a very strong price structure. In the day sale, where the sell-through was 80%, there was real competition for works by younger and less established artists. Clearly Asian collectors still have an interest in Contemporary art. Indeed, the demand survived a withering economic storm but it has shifted toward a highly selective top-end and very competitive entry-level.
Somewhere in between those two extremes lies the burgeoning collecting field of Southeast Asian art where Indonesian painters are beginning to find the market support that their Chinese neighbors saw three or four years ago.

Chinese private buyers dominated the Hong Kong sales. So it should not surprise us to see that two of the collecting categories that saw persistent strength in the face of the financial crisis were the sales of Classical Chinese Painting and the Day sale of Chinese Contemporary art.

Source – Sothebys

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