“62% Buyers Were From The APAC Region”

Please tell us about the highlights of South Asian Modern and Contemporary art auction at the Asian Art Week. 

M.F. Husain’s Untitled (Naga) made $1,260,000 at the auction. S.H. Raza’s Rajasthan from 1983 achieved $1,033,200 and previously belonged to the artist Ram Kumar. The auction itself made a total of $11,020,590. About 187 per cent artworks were sold above their low estimate. Around 62 per cent buyers were from the APAC region, and 22 per cent were completely new bidders. 10 per cent of the buyers were millennials. 

How has the collection been curated? 

We were fortunate to have works that were fresh to market with incredible provenance. Artworks came from the collections of the Abrams Family, Ram Kumar’s family, private collections from across four continents with artworks like the painting by Nicholas Roerich tracing its history back to the 1920s-30s when it belonged to the Roerich Museum in New York.

Which of these pieces were most favoured by collectors?

As we saw at the auction, the paintings by M.F. Husain, S.H. Raza, F.N. Souza, and other modernists dominated the auction. We had very strong results for works by contemporary artists too, including those by Bharti Kher and breaking the world auction record for a piece by Ranjani Shettar.

How has South Asian Modern & Contemporary art fared over the last couple of years at the auction? 

There has been a very positive increase in the interest and depth to the South Asian market and we’ve seen the bidder and buyer base from India and elsewhere grow. This has in turn also affected the prices of the artworks as important works are in high demand by the discerning collector. This combined with the limited supply of artworks available has led to many records being broken across the category.

Which artists have done particularly well over the years in the modern and contemporary category?

S.H. Raza, F.N. Souza, Jehangir Sabavala, V.S. Gaitonde, M.F. Husain, essentially any top-quality work by the modernists has done well over the years. Earlier this year Manjit Bawa’s Durga sold for $1,980,000, a new global auction record for the artist. In March 2022, Christie’s auctioned works from the collection of notable collectors like Mahinder and Sharad Tak, which achieved notable results for V.S. Gaitonde’s Untitled that sold for $2,340,000. Contemporary Art from the Collection of Romi Lambawas auctioned at Christie’s in September 2022 where Cocoon, a painting by the Mumbai artist, Anju Dodiya realised $327,600, more than 650 per cent over the low estimate.