Summer special: Saffronart auction to feature Gaitonde, Souza works

The estimated price of Gaitonde's rare, Untitled painting is Rs 4 crore to Rs 6 crore

For the world of Indian art, the year 1947 is significant for more than one reason. The year of Indian independence was also when a group of young artists, which included V S Gaitonde, F N Souza and M F Husain, came together to form the Progressive Artists’ Group. Most members of the group that went on to enjoy cult status, and which also included writers and theatre personalities, leaned left politically, rejected traditional nationalist art and instead, chose to embrace modern art practices. Today, these artists are revered for being ahead of their time.

Thus, the high interest in Saffronart’s upcoming auction that features several works by some of these artists. The international auction house, which conducts both live and online auctions for modern art, is conducting its annual Summer Auction, which will feature rare works by Gaitonde and Souza. An Untitled Gaitonde, a bright-red work with fragmented planes, was painted in 1958, and marks the beginning of the artist’s journey into pure abstraction. The estimated price of this painting is Rs 4 crore to Rs 6 crore. The work was, till recently, in the possession of Urmila and the late Gunvant Mangaldas, two of the earliest collectors of modern Indian art.  

F N Souza, Untitled (Hampstead)

Souza’s Untitled (Hampstead) (1964) will make a public appearance for the first time after being gifted by the artist to Reeves and Sons, a company that produces artists' acrylic paint in London, in exchange for their paint products. This painting is pegged to fetch between Rs 1.72 crore and Rs 2.41 crore, and is significant for belonging to a lucrative period in Souza’s career, when his paintings were dominated by an apocalyptic vision of London in the 1960s after the Second World War.

V S Gaitonde, Untitled, 1958

The catalogue for the auction also mentions two works from S H Raza’s Bindu series and a contemporary section that features works by Atul Dodiya and Jitish Kallat, among others.  Arabian Delight (2008) by Pakistani-born artist, Huma Mulji, also makes it to the catalogue. With 120 works up for auction, the 24-hour online auction will be preceded by viewings of select lots in New York, London, Mumbai and New Delhi.

S H Raza, Bindu, 1992

 

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All lots can be viewed at saffronart.com on June 12 and 13