Paintings by Andy Warhol, V S Gaitonde in Sotheby's Delhi show

Select works by Andy Warhol, Gerhard Richter and David Hockney, all top global artists along with those by Indian masters M F Husain, Gaitonde and Bhupen Khakar are part of international auctioneer Sotheby's exhibition here.

The works are set go under the hammer in London and New York in two separate auctions slated for late February and March this year, the auctioneers said.

This is the first time that the American pop artist Warhol's 'Dollar Sign' painting sourced from the collection of Jade Jagger (estimated to fetch between 180,000-250,000 pounds) is being displayed in India.

An photographic reproduction of the oil painting by V S Gaitonde estimated over USD 2 million that is set to lead Sotheby's Modern and Contemporary South Asian Art sale in New York is also among the works exhibited here.
 

"We were not able to bring the original work in time for the exhibiton here," Lord Mark Poltimore, deputy chairman, Sotheby's told PTI.

"Gaitonde's ethereal "Painting No. 3", a major work of the artist, which he exhibited during one of his earliest shows in New York in the 1960s has been sourced from an important American collection," auctioneers said.

The Sotheby's exhibition comes just a month after its competitor Christie's launched its first art auction in Mumbai in December 2013. A painting by Gaitonde had fetched a record price of Rs 23.7 crore.

The highlights from New York's auction include Buffalo Among Flower Bed, an important landscape by Bhupen Khakhar (estimated between USD 150,000-200,000, Husain's Untitled (Three Horses) estimated between USD 100,000-150,000 and Ram Kumar's early abstract Untitled, estimated between USD 80,000-120,000.

"We are so thrilled to be bringing a variety of artworks to India which we feel will cause real excitement in the marketplace. We believe that there is a real hunger amongst Indian collectors to experience well-known international contemporary artists," Yamini Mehta, senior director, Sotheby's said.

Highlights from forthcoming London sale of Contemporary Art includes an early David Hockney portrait (estimated to fetch 150,000-200,000 pounds and a work by leading Chinese artist Zao Wou-Ki (estimated to fetch between 300,000-400,000 pounds).