The best of modern and contemporary Indian art at Christie's Sept auction

Even though the slack season for Indian art continues, the fraternity is beginning to stir, to emerge out of the summer stupor eventually. The news of newer shows being launched in the forthcoming weeks around the country is beginning to come in; right now, it is a trickle but will soon become a steady stream.

So is the case with auctions. Art afficionados are eagerly looking forward to the big-ticket September auctions, traditionally held in New York by both the top auction houses - the Christie's and Sotheby's. While it is still almost two months for the high season of art auctions, Christie's has already shared interesting details about its auction, 'Centering the Figure: South Asian Modern + Contemporary Art from the Collection of Romi Lamba', to be held in New York on 21 September.

A selection of the works will travel to Christie's Mumbai for a preview from 8-14 August and to London for a preview from 1-6 September before being shown at the New York preview from 16-20 September.

The entire scope of this auction is not yet known, but the highlights promise an exciting evening of sales when some superlative works of art will change ownership.

The Romi Lamba Collection

The upcoming Christie's auction of South Asian art will feature 85 lots from the collection of Hong Kong-based Indian-born business leader, Romi Lamba. He is considered a pioneer collector who helped advance the field for modern and contemporary South Asian art in Asia. According to a statement issued by Christie's for the upcoming sale, "The works in this auction, with their particular focus on narrative figuration, celebrate a rich range of artistic practices from the South Asian subcontinent across the last century. Highlights from the selection include important paintings by Arpita Singh, Manjit Bawa, Anjolie Ela Menon and Jogen Chowdhury, largely unseen in public and appearing at auction for the first time. Also included in the sale is an exceptional collection of contemporary photography by artists such as Dayanita Singh, Pushpamala N and Vivan Sundaram, and contemporary negotiations with figuration by Anju Dodiya, Atul Dodiya, Jitish Kallat and Ravinder Reddy among other artists."

The list reads like the who's who of modern and contemporary Indian art with the added pedigree of a good provenance. According to Christie's, Indian-born Romi Lamba has always been a collector, 'during a life that has taken him from university in Philadelphia to his long-time home in Hong Kong. His journey started with antiques, before moving to Japanese ceramics, South Asian textiles, and in the mid-1990s, modern and contemporary South Asian art. Lamba recalls via Christie's, "In 1994, we moved to Hong Kong and began to collect Indian contemporary art. Certain behaviours were now ingrained. A connection to my home country: a diaspora's magnet. Research, focus and discipline. The paintings we hung on our wall would only be Indian... This was a nascent market; new books on Indian art were being published every month, augmenting my collection on rugs and shawls. We found ourselves buying bigger bookshelves ... We chose from photographs mailed by Indian galleries before the shows opened, sometimes nabbing a sought-after artist unseen over the phone."

The collector is now putting a part of his treasured collection on the block, as he prepares for the next phase of his life and the latest turn in his collecting journey, according to Christie's. That makes it an exciting opportunity for all those wishing to start their collection of high-end Indian art, or add some of the most seminal Indian signatures to their already existing collection. The auction house adds that the selection of works featured in this sale were meant to be lived with, and they adorned every corner of his home, which he described as "a home masquerading as an art gallery."

Though the entire scope of the works on offer is not yet known, some highlights include seminal works by A-list artists on the Indian art market, such as: 'A Woman with Another Woman,' a 1995 work by Arpita Singh, estimated at $300,000 – $500,000 (approx. Rs 2.39 crore – Rs 3.98 crore); 'That Obscure Object of Desire II,' a 1982 work by Maqbool Fida Husain estimated at $200,000 – $300,000 (approx. Rs 1.59 crore – Rs 2.39 crore); 'Untitled (Brahma),' a 1993 work by Manjit Bawa, estimated at $120,000 – $180,000 (approx. Rs 95.6 lakh – Rs 1.43 crore); 'Man in Kurta Pyjama', a 1990 work by Jogen Chowdhury, estimated at $50,000 – $70,000 (approx. Rs 39.8 lakh – Rs 55.8 lakh); 'Silence Please,' a 1985 work by Atul Dodiya, estimated at $30,000 – $50,000 (approx. Rs 23.9 lakh – Rs 39.8 lakh); and 'Asiatic Library, Bombay,' a 2000 photograph by Dayanita Singh, estimated at $6,000 – $8,000 (approx. Rs 4.78 lakh – Rs 6.37 lakh). The advance highlights point towards an exciting sale as the works in question are not just by top artists but also from the best phases of their careers, as evident from the works on offer, especially in the case of Husain, Arpita Singh and Jogen Chowdhury (from the list shared by Christie's so far).

Nishad Avari, Head of Sale, South Asian Modern + Contemporary Art, Christie's, says in a statement: "This is an extraordinary opportunity for collectors and connoisseurs of modern and contemporary South Asian art to admire and acquire works chosen by one of the important early collectors in the field. Romi Lamba began collecting thirty years ago, a time when the best of the best was still available. The depth, breadth and quality of the objects in this collection are a testament to Romi Lamba's discerning eye, and prescience in seeing the brilliance of this art before the market fully took notice."

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