Beyond records, new opportunities

Gaitonde's untitled yellow on canvas became the most expensive work by an Indian artist when it sold for Rs 23.4 cr on Thursday

If ever there was a case for the abolition of the crippling conditions around the sale of Jawaharlal Nehru's well intentioned but restrictive 'national treasures', it is this. As record after record was bested on Thursday night at Christie's debut sale in Mumbai, the nine artists whose works cannot be exported languished behind their peers, whether Amrita Sher-Gil (Rs 3.6 crore), Rabindranath Tagore (Rs 2.9 crore), his nephews Abanindranath and Gagendranath (Rs 12.5 lakh and Rs 15 lakh respectively), Jamini Roy (Rs 13.75 lakh for two gouache works), or Nandalal Bose (whose 'postcards' sold variously fromRs 4-6.8 lakh).

As auctioneers Jussi Pylkkanen and Hugo Weihe stepped up to the podium, it was under immense pressure from a market considered 'depressed' by many. And yet, in the course of a few hours, Christie's changed those fortunes with a Rs 100 receipt. As the gavel came down on high realisations and amazing records, it put the adrenalin back in the industry that needed just such a jolt to recuse itself from its slough of gloom.

V S Gaitonde claimed the sweet spot with a bid that put it at Rs 23.7 crore for a "non-representational" work. The stage is now set for debates around Gaitonde's significance - Christie's had begun to bet on this dark horse as early as its auction of Asian art in Hong Kong in May this year, and the Guggenheim has a retrospective of his works in New York next year - vis-à-vis other strong prices for artists Ram Kumar (Rs 3.5 crore), Ganesh Pyne (Rs 2.3 crore), Bhupen Khakhar (Rs 2.3 crore), J Swaminathan (Rs 1 crore), Arpita Singh (Rs 1.1 crore), George Keyt (Rs 74.25 lakh) and Manjit Bawa (Rs 3.8 crore). Significantly, an unknown artist's painting of prisoners of war done in the 1940s fetched Rs 20.6 lakh.

Christie's other favourite and India's first artist to scale the $1 million benchmark, Tyeb Mehta's Mahishasura (Rs 19.7 crore) was the other painting to score past S H Raza's previous benchmark (Saurashtra, Rs 16.4 crore). Christie's kept its usual auction performers F N Souza, M F Husain and Raza in the peripheries, establishing its intent of widening its net instead of merely banking on star favourites.

With vicarious interest centering around the prices (even though Gaitonde's - and Indian art's - record is a poor fraction of the Rs 900 crore that Francis Bacon's triptych commanded only weeks previously) what needs to be established is the importance of art to the community. India, particularly, remains immune to its art and artists, strange for a civilisation where the two have been a part of society for as long as anyone can remember. It's time to bring some of that back to the forefront. What makes Ganesh Pyne's "washes" so significant? Do Nasreen Mohamedi's works actually communicate emotions? How do you "understand" an abstract work?

Meanwhile, the stage is set for the next round of auctions - Pundole's, Saffronart, Astaguru - which will prove whether Christie's maiden Indian auction was a one-off or not. Already, Christie's presence in Shanghai - also debuted this year - has made a substantial contribution to the Chinese art market, even though it was leagues ahead of the Indian counterpart. With Christie's having migrated online to widen its base of first-time collectors, its stewardship under worldwide CEO Steven Murphy (previously of "mass" market industries such as music and publishing - EMI Music/Angel Records and Rodale Inc. respectively) and India managing director Sanjay Sharma (previously of Swarovski) is laying the foundations for a global catchment for Indian art. Proving that a sale of 98 per cent of the lots at twice its pre-sale estimate was no little achievement.

Kishore Singh is a Delhi-based writer and art critic. These views are personal and do not reflect those of the organisation with which he is associated