Sunday, March 21, 2010

Masters and contemporaries shine at Saffronart auction

The mood clearly seems to be upbeat as indicated by leading auctioneer Saffronart that has managed to sell 75% of the lots in its Spring Online Auction 2010. Indicating that the art market revival is on fast track, the auction of Modern & Contemporary Indian Art in the second week of March has posted strong results.

The sale comprised 100 lots of by 47 leading Indian artists with an aggregate estimate of $3.6-4.6 million. It included iconic works by some modern masters like FN Souza, SH Raza, Manjit Bawa, Akbar Padamsee and Ram Kumar, as well as contemporary artists such as Subodh Gupta, Anju Dodiya, TV Santhosh, Atul Dodiya and Shibu Natesan.

Seminal works included Raza's ‘Prakriti Purush’ (2006) estimated at $180,000-220,000; Souza's ‘Gothic Head’ (1957) at $150,000 - 200,000; Subodh Gupta's ‘Doot’ (2003) estimated at $180,000 - 240,000; and Shibu Natesan's 'Take Me Where I Belong' (2000) estimated at $55,600 - 66,700. Collectors from over 30 countries drove the competitive bidding activity.

Following are the highlights of the auction:
- 75% of lots on offer were sold. The lots sold totaled $ 4.6 Million.
- Nearly 60% of sold lots exceeded their high estimates.
- Akbar Padamsee's 1953 portrait, 'Prophet' ($ 278,875) went for over triple its higher estimate. - Husain’s 1970s Untitled had a winning bid of over $ 400,000.

Subodh Gupta's ‘Doot’ sold for $ 391,000 as against a high estimate of $ 240,000. Souza's ‘Decomposing Head’ price of $ 350,750 was much higher than its high estimate of $ 250,000. Same was the case with works by Raza, Laxma Goud and Jagdish Swaminathan.

Importantly, collectors showed keen interest in works of leading contemporary artists like Shibu Natesan, Sudarshan Shetty and Rajesh Ram. According to its CEO and Co-founder Dinesh Vazirani, the strong results affirm the renewed confidence of the growing collector base for Indian art.

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