Indian modernist painters to be celebrated at UK auction

Indian painters such as Tyeb Mehta and Maqbool Fida Husain are among a host of modern and contemporary artists from South Asia to be celebrated at an auction in London next month.

Christie's annual summer auction of 'South Asian Modern + Contemporary Art', to be held on June 11, comprises 77 lots, almost entirely from private collections from Europe, India, Asia, US and Australia.

Following India's participation and Pakistan's debut at this year's Venice Biennale, this year's auction will celebrate art from both the countries, the auction house said.

"The auction is led by the striking 'Falling Figure with Bird' painted in 2002 by Tyeb Mehta (1925-2009). This compelling composition manifests the sense of angst, helplessness and fear that Mehta felt at the societal violence and tragedy he experienced in the aftermath of Partition," the auction notes read.

The painting, estimated to fetch between 1,500,000 pounds and 2,000,000 pounds, depicts entwined avian and human figures, drawn perhaps from Greek mythology characters like Icarus or Phaethon, who failed in their quests of flight and union with divinity.

The sale also includes exceptional paintings by members of the seminal Progressive Artists' Group and their associates, which are completely fresh to the market and provide new documentation of the critical formative period in the development of the Indian modern art.

These new discoveries are described as "jewels" in the auction and highlight the touching friendships that inspired some of the Indian artists in the 1950s and 1960s on the path to becoming the major modern masters.

These include MF Husain's colossal, eight feet, 1958 painting, 'Untitled (Village Scenes)', estimated between 500,000 pounds and 700,000 pounds.

It is described as a "visual almanac of the artist's early oeuvre".

Christie's notes: "Each constituent vignette in this multipart composition represents Husain's most iconic tropes, quintessential to his artistic output, establishing his assured draftsmanship and mastery of line and colour."
The catalogue notes: "Each painting extolls Raza's love of his quintessential genre, landscape, in unique and contrasting ways."