Bhupen Khakhar's work tops Saffronart's Spring Live auction

The results of the first big sale of the year’s maiden auction season are out, and as expected, Bhupen Khakhar’s 1996 oil on canvas, Untitled (Champaner), has walked away with the top honours. It became the most expensive work sold at Saffronart’s Spring Live Auction in Mumbai on March 13, fetching Rs 14.40 crore ($1,756,098), exceeding its estimate of Rs 6 crore – Rs 8 crore. At those estimates, it was one of the top two works on offer at the auction. The other was Gulam Mohammed Sheikh’s 1987 work, Sursagar, which sold for Rs 6.24 crore ($760,976).

Khakhar (1934-2003), a self-trained artist who forged a bold path by painting on themes of homosexuality, before coming out himself, has been an auction favourite for the past few years with his works regularly finishing off on top of the table, alongside seasoned favourites such as V. S. Gaitonde, S. H. Raza, F. N. Souza, and M. F. Husain, among others. His most expensive work sold at the auctions so far, however, remains his 1986 canvas, Two Men in Benaras, which sold for Rs 22.39 crore at a Sotheby’s auction in London in June 2019.

Top 10 at Saffronart Live

Besides Khakhar’s headlining work, the other works that make up the list of top 10 canvases sold at Saffronart’s Spring Live Auction did not spring any surprises. All these works belonged to artists who have remained favourites of the collectors for more than two decades, ever since the market of Indian modern and contemporary art started booming. The works following Khakhar’s Untitled (Champaner) at the auction, in terms of price achieved, are as follows:

• Tearing Apart by M. F. Husain, oil on canvas, 1970, sold for Rs 7.02 crore or $ 856,098 (estimate: Rs 4 crore – Rs 6 crore).

• Rajasthan by S. H. Raza, oil on canvas, 1961, sold for Rs 6.39 crore ($780,000) (estimate: Rs 2.46 crore – Rs 4.10 crore).

• Sursagar by Gulam Mohammed Sheikh, oil on canvas, 1987, sold for Rs 6.24 crore ($760,976) (estimate: Rs 6 crore – Rs 8 crore).

• The Lost Self by Rameshwar Broota, oil on canvas, 1971, sold for Rs 3.60 crore ($439,024) (estimate: Rs 1.50 crore – Rs 2 crore).

• Arunodaya by N. S. Bendre, oil on canvas, 1989, sold for Rs 2.64 crore ($321,951) (estimate: Rs 90 lakh – Rs 1.20 crore).

• Untitled by M. F. Husain, acrylic on canvas, circa 1980s, sold for Rs 2.28 crore ($278,049) (estimate: Rs 1.20 crore – Rs 1.50 crore).

• Untitled by Nasreen Mohamedi, pen and pencil on paper, sold for Rs 96 lakh ($117,073) (estimate: Rs 50 lakh – Rs 60 lakh).

• Untitled (Multiple Portraits) by several artists, various mediums and various sizes, sold for Rs 88.56 lakh ($108,000) (estimate: Rs 24.60 lakh – Rs 32.80 lakh).

• Untitled by B. Prabha, oil on canvas, circa 1970s, sold for Rs 84 lakh ($102,439) (estimate: Rs 35 lakh – Rs 45 lakh).

Even as we went to press, Saffronart’s Spring Online Auction was getting wrapped up, where the most eagerly watched work was Amrita Sher-Gil’s oil on canvas from circa 1930s, titled Portrait of Denyse. Estimated at Rs 12.30 crore to Rs 20.50 crore, it sold for Rs 12.79 crore ($1,560,000). This work generated a lot of interest as the artist currently holds the record for the most expensive Indian painting ever sold. Her 1937 oil on canvas, The Story Teller, sold for Rs 61.80 crore at a Saffronart’s ‘Evening Sale: Modern Art’ on 16 September 2023.

Next off the block

The Sotheby’s auction of Modern and Contemporary South Asian Art, including the Virginia and Ravi Akhoury Collection, will be held on March 18 in New York, about which this column wrote last week. Soon after that, on March 20, Christie’s will host its first big Indian auction of the year in New York; the auction is titled South Asian Modern + Contemporary Art Auction Including Works from the Collection of Umesh and Sunanda Gaur. An analysis shows that Francis Newton Souza, whose centenary will fall on the coming April 12, is the star attraction of the Christie’s auction, not just in terms of the value of works on offer, but also by sheer numbers. Of a total of 94 lots on offer, as many as 28 works are by Souza, widely acknowledged as the enfant terrible of modern Indian art.

The most expensive lot on offer at Christie’s auction, as per the pre-auction estimates, is the rather benign work—unusual for Souza’s oeuvre—from 1960, titled The Lovers. Featuring a saint like man and a woman resting her head on his chest as he puts his arm around her shoulders, this work is brilliant in trademark Souza strokes, but lacks any of the macabre elements that mark most of his well-known work. This can safely be considered the most endearing of all paintings of couples / lovers that Souza made in his career. The two seem to be at peace in each other’s company, as evident from the pacific expression that the two wear. This work is estimated at $700,000 - $1,000,000 (approx. Rs 5.8 crore – Rs 8.2 crore).

The next most expensive work is also by Souza, titled Priest with Chalice, painted in 1953. This oil on board work is estimated at $500,000 – $700,000 (approx. Rs 4.1 crore – Rs 5.8 crore). A dark portrait, painted in slate grey, it too shows a rather subdued member of clergy, and already seems to have crystallised the vocabulary that Souza would go on to use effectively in portraying priests and saints, albeit often in grisly avatars, throughout his career.

A very unusual Souza is among the top five works at this auction. Titled Men in Boats, this oil on board work is from the earliest years of the artist’s career as it was painted in 1945. This was the year when a young Souza—he was 21 years old then—was expelled from Sir J. J. School of Art, Bombay, for participating in the Quit India movement. It gives a glimpse of the foundations of Souza’s great art, which would subsequently evolve brilliantly to make him one of India’s most sought after artists, long after he has gone from this world. It features men working at the boats and getting ready to head to the seas for the day’s catch of fish. The landscape evokes the sea coast of Souza’s native Goa.

It would be interesting to watch if the market shows renewed interest in Souza’s work in his centenary year.

(The writer is a New Delhi-based journalist)