A thunderous art auction record

On June 27, an artwork highly anticipated to make records did just that in London. At Sotheby’s auction titled ‘Modern and Contemporary Evening Auction, featuring Face to Face: A Celebration of Portraiture’, Gustav Klimt’s Dame mit Fächer (Lady with a Fan), sold for a staggering price of GBP 85,305,800 (£85.3 million) or approx. Rs 882 crore.

Klimt (1862-1918) was an Austrian symbolist painter whose works of art continue to regale connoisseurs, and heat up the auction circuit whenever they appear on sales, as has recently happened with Dame mit Fächer (Lady with a Fan). Even those not aware about Klimt would instantly recognise The Kiss, arguably his most famous painting. Currently housed at the museum Österreichische Galerie Belvedere in Vienna, Austria, The Kiss has spawned several clones and has been referenced multiple times worldwide by various industries, including the entertainment industry.

This will be a record to remember for a long time to come. With this figure - £85.3 million - Dame mit Fächer (Lady with a Fan) has set a new auction record for a work of art in Europe, and of course, has become the most expensive Gustav Klimt work ever. It is also the second highest price for any portrait ever sold at auction.

The work has a poignant story attached to it, which would always add to its value incrementally. According to Sotheby’s, this painting was found on the easel in Klimt’s studio at the time of his death. Experts believe the figure reveals Klimt was exploring a new approach to colour and form with this work, ‘resulting in a masterpiece by an artist at the height of his powers’, as per the auction house. It had appeared on the market for the first time in thirty years and saw intense bidding by clients, as per a report by Sotheby’s.

Who was Gustav Klimt?

Born on July 14, 1862, in Vienna, Austria, Gustav Klimt studied at the Vienna School of Decorative Arts after which he opened a studio in 1883 that worked in mural paintings. However, towards the late 1890s, his style matured, and he founded a school of painting that came to be known as Vienna Sezession. This was a group of painters who rejected academic art in favour of a highly decorative artistic style. Those who are aware of The Kiss would instantly recall the dense and brilliant decoration in bright, bold colours - including gold leaf - around the central figures in an embrace, almost overshadowing them. The Kiss was painted in 1907-08, which is widely referred to as Klimt’s ‘golden period’. Its popularity as a Klimt work is rivalled only by his other work, Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I, made by the artist between 1903 and 1907, and liberally embellished with gold leaf. Klimt’s use of gold in his canvases is said to have been inspired by the Byzantine mosaics he saw in churches on a trip to Italy.

While the work Dame mit Fächer (Lady with a Fan) does not feature gold leaf, it is brilliant in other ways, especially as it is clearly an evolution over the master’s previous phase. According to the auction catalogue, this work (oil on canvas, 100.2 x 100.2 cm. / 39 ½ x 39 ½ in.) ‘belongs among the very best of his work and within a group of paintings that Klimt produced in the years directly before his death in 1918 and which might be considered the realization of his mature artistic vision. It combines rich patterns and oriental motifs with the delicate and luminous human touch that makes Klimt’s portraits so sought-after.’ In fact, almost all his portraits of women are captivating, which have made them some of the most pleasant and celebrated works of his times and thereafter.

Thunders Closer Home

The figure achieved by Klimt’s work, and even those dearer, may seem a far cry for works of Indian art as of now, and honestly, it would be unfair to compare prices for Indian works of art with those of any at European and American markets. The reasons are too many and too elaborate to touch upon in this article.

However, just as this write-up went to bed, Saffronart’s Summer Online Auction of Modern and Contemporary South Asian Art wrapped up. The headline act at this auction, as expected, was a rare monochrome work by Tyeb Mehta (titled Bulls, which fetched Rs 29.34 crore ($3,600,007). Before the 1925-2009) auction, it was estimated at Rs 28.52 crore – Rs 36.67 crore ($3.5 million – $4.5 million).

The second best price was achieved by a figurative work by Ram Kumar (1924-2018), Untitled (Two Figures), which fetched Rs 4.89 crore ($600,000), against an estimate of Rs 2.44 crore – Rs 4.07 crore ($300,000 - $500,000).

The next was an iconic Bindu, by SH Raza (1922-2016), that fetched Rs 4.4 crore ($540,000), against an estimate of Rs 1.63 crore – Rs 2.44 crore ($200,000 – Rs 300,000).

An Untitled work by MF Husain (1913-2011), rounded off the top works that crossed the crore mark. An acrylic on canvas featuring sisters of Mother Teresa’s missionary organization, cradling a baby and sheltering a young boy, this work fetched Rs 1.68 crore ($206,135) against an estimate of Rs 1 crore – Rs 1.5 crore ($122,700 - $184,050). As is evident, the top slots, yet again, were taken by the masters who continue to command the Indian art market like a colossus.

However, as this column has repeatedly emphasized over the past one year, other notable names are slowly rising up the graph and the prices their works are beginning to command - deservedly and long overdue - are worth a watch. That is a strong pointer towards the maturing of the market and let us throw light on these other rising masters in subsequent editions of this column.

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