2010 auction recap - II

• The Modern Indian Art Online Auction by Asta Guru in August did exceedingly well. Anjolie Ela Menon’s ‘Man with Heart of Gold’ ($ 40,817, Rs. 1,836,780); Krishen Khanna’s work from ‘Bandwalla’ Series ($ 14,116, Rs. 635,220); Bhupen Khakhar’s Untitled watercolor on paper work ($ 11,952, Rs. 537,845); Laxma Gaud’s ‘Nude & Goat’ ($ 8,163, Rs. 367,356) and F N Souza Untitled Pen & Ink on paper work ($ 7,954, Rs. 357,936) fetched prices more than twice their estimates.
  
  
• SH Raza set a world auction record for modern Indian art with his 1983 painting ‘Saurashtra’ (acrylic on canvas) sold for $3,486,965 (Rs.16,23,87,474.7), breaking the earlier record held by him for his ‘La Terre’. His ‘Bharatiya Samaroh’ fetched Rs.4.07 crore at Saffronart's autumn online auction (September 2010). The auction offered an exquisite collection of 90 works by 43 modern & contemporary Indian artists. It registered 76 percent sales.
  
  
• Christie’s ‘highest value Indian art sale’ as part of the South Asian Modern & Contemporary Art auction in September included exquisite works by SH Raza, Husain, Atul Dodiya, Anju Dodiya and Subodh Gupta. The event featured a remarkable selection of contemporary art from the region. On the other hand, its South Asian Modern + Contemporary Art auction in June sold all but 19 out of 223 lots, including a collection of over 150 works from the estate of late FN Souza (from the late 1930’s through to the 1990’s) that was almost a sell-out. The sale total of £7,013,400 (GBP) doubled the estimate, whereas Sotheby’s sale of South Asian Art brought an exceptional total of £5,465,550 - almost double the sum realized for the equivalent London sale last summer.
  
  
• The most keenly watched auction of Indian art this season, of 12 paintings by Rabindranath Tagore, fetched prices between £91,250 and £313,250. An impressive nude by FN Souza made – more than four times the pre-sale high estimate of £80,000. An Untitled Self Portrait by Manjit Bawa brought £193,250, nearly double the pre-sale estimate. A rare bronze sculpture by Somnath Hore got £157,250, a new auction record price for the artist.