Robust summer sales enliven dull season of Indian art

As the debilitating summer plods along and weary Indians pray for a turn in the weather, the art market too continues to maintain a low profile under the heavy summer spell. There are not many reverberations with big ticket sales or exhibitions. However, to break the monotony, even wee bit, two auctions of modern and contemporary Indian art were held in the past week. The results, mercifully, were not as wearisome as the weather. The works by masters fetched prices worthy of their priceless art and the market continued to renew faith in the so-far-unheralded artists, who are set on becoming hot property on the Indian art market soon.

Saffronart's summer online auction

As generally expected of any auction of Indian modern and contemporary art, it was works by the members of the Progressive Artists' Group (the most successful of all Indian art groups ever) SH Raza, FN Souza and MF Husain that occupied the top five slots at the Saffronart's Summer Online Auction held on 22-23 June.

Congo, a 1965 oil on canvas by SH Raza (1922-2016), that was estimated between Rs 7 crore and Rs 9 crore, became the top lot sold at the auction with the price of Rs 11.63 crore ($1,510,920). This large work, approx. 5 ft x 4 ft, comes from the early years of Raza's abstractionist career; he had already shifted to Paris in 1950 and by the time this work was made, had moved beyond representative landscapes to abstract landscapes, such as this one. His forms were breaking into nebulous, abstract shapes in a rich vocabulary that owed as much to his western exposure as to his Indian roots. His much later work, Bindu – Nad, from 1996, belonging to the Bindu series of abstract works for which Raza is most well-known, was the fourth most expensive work sold at the auction. Measuring approx. 4.2 x 4.2 ft, this acrylic on canvas was estimated between Rs 2.75 crore and Rs 3.75 crore, and was ultimately picked up for Rs 2.83 crore.

On positions number two and three were works by the founder of the Progressive Artists' Group, and the most mercurial of them all, F. N. Souza (1924-2002). The second most expensive work at the auction was a 1962 oil on canvas by Souza, titled Landscape, which was sold for Rs 3.37 crore ($438,000), against an estimate of Rs3.08 crore – Rs4.62 crore. This work comes from Souza's London days where he had lived and tasted success in the 1950s and 1960s (following a period of struggle, though), after leaving India for good in 1949.

The other work is a later Untitled oil on canvas from 1990, when Souza had long left London for good to settle down in New York. This work, also a landscape, was estimated at Rs2.5 crore – Rs3.5 crore and was bought for Rs3 crore.

Completing the top five list was a work by MF Husain (1913-2011), from his well-known series made to honour the most famous Christian missionary ever, Saint Teresa of Calcutta, who is known for her organisation Missionaries of Charity. Titled Mother Teresa and measuring 4.8 x 2.8 ft, this oil on canvas was estimated at Rs77 lakhs – Rs 1.15 crore but was ultimately sold for Rs 1.29 crore ($168,000). An evocative work featuring the Nobel Peace Prize-winning messiah of the poor and the needy in her signature blue-bordered white saree, the painting shows the nun cradling an infant in her arms while two other children cuddle up to her. Besides the top five, the results threw up interesting other insights, such as the market's reiteration of its new-found faith in the works by hitherto ignored geniuses such as Amar Nath Sehgal (1922-2007).

An Untitled ceramic work with green glaze, measuring 28.0 x 9.5 x 5.5 in. fetched Rs 40.19 lakh, 10 times the price of its pre-auction estimate of Rs 2.3 lakh – Rs 3.8 lakh. Sehgal, a modernist sculptor who died in relative obscurity - compared to what was his due - has seen connoisseurs lavishing great interest on his works of late, as his sculptures have fetched superlative prices at almost all auctions of Indian art conducted by different houses from the start of the year. Sehgal, as may be known, was perhaps the earliest Indian artist to take legal action under the Indian Copyright Act defending his moral right over his work of art.

Other highlights of the sale included the following: Village Fish Market, an oil on canvas by K. H. Ara (1914-1985), fetched Rs47.58 lakh, which was more than double its estimate of Rs 15.4 – Rs 23.1 lakh; an Untitled 1961 oil on canvas by KK Hebbar (1911-1996), sold for Rs 51.65 lakh, nearly double its estimate of Rs 23.1 lakh – Rs 30.8 lakh; and Wall, a 1969 relief collograph on paper by Zarina Hashmi (1937-2020), went for Rs21.7 lakh or nearly five times its estimate of Rs 3 lakh – Rs 4.6 lakh.

Indian Modern Art at deRivaz & Ives

The second auction to enliven the dull season was the online sale titled Indian Modern Art by deRivaz and Ives on June 24-25.

The most expensive work to go under the hammer at this auction was an evocative cubist landscape by the suave gentleman artist Jehangir Sabavala (1922-2011). This Untitled oil on canvas from 1971, measuring 23.6 x 35.4 in., fetched Rs 1.1 crore ($147,370), against an estimate of Rs 1.6 crore – Rs 2.4 crore. A mesmerising work in Sabavala's signature vocabulary in earthy shades of brown, ochre, green and black, it creates a long-distance view of an upland with undulating mounds and hills receding into the distance, watched over by three figures in a corner, as they seem to bid goodbye to other figures walking into the horizon.

The next best price was achieved by a richly-coloured montage of Hindu deities by MF Husain. Titled Lakshmi, Ganesha and Saraswati, this 1990 acrylic on canvas fetched Rs80.64 lakh ($106,105) against an estimate of Rs 1 crore – Rs 1.5 crore. An Untitled oil on canvas by NS Bendre (1910-1992), made circa 1961-62, fetched Rs 62.72 lakh. Bendre, like Sehgal and a few other modern masters who have for long remained on the sidelines of glory of Indian art, has been seeing a renewal of robust interest in his work since the past few auctions, which augurs well, not just for his art, but also for the overall health of the Indian art market.

(The writer is a New Delhi-based journalist, writer and arts consultant. She blogs at www.archanakhareghose.com)