| Tyeb Mehta, SH Raza fetch over $1 mn each.
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| The orgy of escalating prices for Indian art continued in New York where Sotheby’s auctioned a record 148 modern and contemporary works (and, in an additional session, 30 miniature paintings, besides stone sculptures and jewellery from Southeast Asia).
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| Even though Tyeb Mehta’s previous record was not broken at yesterday’s auction, two paintings fetched over a million dollars each — a work by SH Raza (called Tapovan) claimed the highest at a searing $1,472,000, rising well above the estimated value of $800,000-1,000,000.
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| Tyeb Mehta’s work, Falling Figure With Bird, also with an estimated value of $800,000-1,000,000, fetched the second highest with a final bid of $1,248,000.
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| The auctions closed with a final value of $13.6 million, topping the $12 million just six months earlier. However, two forthcoming auctions (Christie’s, later tonight, probably on even as you read this in India; and Bonham’s on April 6), could aim for the highest collections in any single auction, particularly Christie’s which has a very robust collection of modernists, especially FN Souzas.
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| In an auction that included works by modernists from Jamini Roy to MF Hussain, prices zoomed on the art index. But a Bodhi Art spokesperson said the frenzy seems to be more subdued, and consolidation is becoming apparent.
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| “It is clear that good works are fetching higher than price estimates,” he said, “while weaker works have sold within their estimates.”
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| He also said the total appetite for Indian art was reaching saturation; as a result dealers were able to go bargain hunting for works that were more accessible to them.
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| While Jamini Roy’s fetched a feeble $21,600, Hussain’s highest (from a large body of works in the auction) scaled at 168,000 for two of his works, one labelled Procession, the other Untitled.
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| Other peaks were K K Hebbar at $45,000, F N Souza at $508,000, Ramkumar at $542,000, Akbar Padamsee at $307,200, and Anjolie Ela Menon settling at a modest $66,000.
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| Nor were the contemporaries languishing. Echoing a recent online auction conducted by Saffronart, the Dodiya couple ranked highest with their paintings.
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| Atul Dodiya continued to be the flagbearer with his work, My Home in Angkor, fetching $192,000, with Anju Dodiya’s The Churning at $108,000.
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| Among other contemporaries, Chittrovanu Mazumdar fetched $72,000 at the hammer, Subodh Gupta picked up $51,000, Jittish Kallat and spouse Reena Saini Kallat got $42,000 and $39,000 at the gavel, Paresh Maity mustered up $33,000, while Rekha Rodwittiya bettered her Saffronart hiccup with $36,000. Jagannath Panda, doing particularly well among very young contemporaries, could manage only $6,600 at the Sotheby’s auction. |
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