Art markets warm up to deserving masters beyond the regular favourites

Eachnew yearnew yearrequires new resolutions, new commitments, new ambitions, and often, new heroes and stars too, to add that spice to our lives left dreary at the end of the passing year. This is especially true in times such as these, when yet another year has come bearing the sceptre of gloom in the form of the Omicron variant of coronavirus.

Surprisingly, the world of art - often considered the ivory tower by many who don't truly understand how agonising and humanising its experiences can be - has not suffered as most other walks of life have in the past two years. Of course, exhibitions dried up, major art fairs and festivals were either postponed or cancelled, and young careers suffered setback. Yet, people turned to art to find peace and beauty in a world riddled with unprecedented despondency. Besides giving aesthetic pleasure, art works brought happiness to those who ventured to buy it - across a wide spectrum from deep pockets to those who played safe with affordable art. Auction results showed as much.

Records during the pandemic

The record of the two most expensive Indian paintings ever sold was set during the pandemic. An Untitled work by VS Gaitonde (1924-2001) sold for Rs 39.98 crore ($5.5 million) at Saffronart's Spring Live Auction on March 11, 2021, becoming the most expensive Indian painting ever sold. Later, on July 14, a 1938 painting by Amrita Sher-Gil (1913-1941), In The Ladies Enclosure, sold for Rs 37.8 crore at Saffronart's Summer Live Auction, becoming the second most expensive Indian painting. Earlier, in September 2020, at a Pundole's auction in Mumbai, an Untitled 1974 oil by Gaitonde had sold for Rs 36.8 crore - all these top prices were achieved during the global pandemic and lockdown.

These figures pointed towards the robustness of the Indian art market, borne out by the highly important autumn auctions of Indian art in the West - often the most definitive indicators of the direction the market would take in the months to follow, especially in the new year.

While people generally trawl the newsprint for records set or broken by art works, I am enthused by the newer names that breached their traditional price points at the two seminal autumn sales - the Christie's auction of South Asian Modern and Contemporary Art in New York on September 22, 2021, and Sotheby's Modern & Contemporary South Asian Art auction in London on October 26, 2021.

The shooting stars

Both the sales had regular top performers like F. N. Souza, SH Raza, MF Husain, Jehangir Sabavala, Rameshwar Broota, Ram Kumar, Tyeb Mehta, Rabindranath Tagore and Arpita Singh. But, it's the other names skirting the top bracket that should be watched to get an idea of how the market would shape in the new year - both for the individual artists and the Indian market.

The most heartening sale was of two works by Bhupen Khakhar (1934-2003), one each at Christie's and Sotheby's, that bested their respective pre-sale estimates by a wide tangent.

At the Sotheby's sale, Khakhar's 1972 oil on canvas, Krishna Hotel, went for a whopping £1,225,000 (approx. Rs 12.34 crore), becoming the sale's top seller, and the most expensive Khakhar work ever sold. Its pre-auction estimate was £200,000 - £400,000 (approx. Rs 2 crore – Rs 4 crore). At the Christie's auction too, his 1967 oil, Untitled (Tree in a Walled Garden), fetched $990,000 (Rs 7.37 crore), way above its highest pre-auction estimate of $500,000 (approx. Rs 3.7 crore).

Two other modern masters whose works bested their pre-auction estimates in a long-awaited nod by the market and appeared skimming the top bracket at the sales were NS Bendre (1910-1992) and Ganesh Pyne (1937-2013).

Bendre, the influential mentor of a generation of modern Indian artists who also helped in the formation of the Lalit Kala Akademi in New Delhi and the Baroda Group of Artists, has for long deserved to be where his art works are now getting him. His 1972 oil, Untitled (Three Women), sold for $225,000 (approx. Rs 1.67 crore) against a high estimate of $120,000 (Rs 89 lakh). At Sotheby's, his late career work, Pancham (1991), fetched £81,900 (approx. Rs 82 lakh), above its high estimate of £70,000 (approx. Rs 70.5 lakh).

The modernist Ganesh Pyne, known for his individual style of poetic surrealism, too seems to be claiming a long-awaited place at the very top. His canvases sold well at both the auctions. His 2006 tempera on canvas work, The Moon, fetched $106,250 (approx. Rs 79 lakh) at the Christie's sale, while at the Sotheby's auction, his 2003 tempera work, The House, went for £113,400 (approx. Rs 1.1 crore) against an estimate of £70,000 - £90,000 (approx. Rs 70 lakh – Rs 90 lakh). Even at the Saffronart Winter Live Auction on December 15, 2021, Pyne's 2004 work, The Shadow, fetched Rs 1.08 crore ($144,966).

Prospects for 2022

What the sales of Indian art in 2021 have taught us, and help us make informed guesses for 2022, is the truth that has been etched in stone for any intelligent market ever since art became a global blue-chip commodity. The truth is, solid and strong works by masters will always rule the roost, irrespective of epoch-changing events such as the ongoing pandemic or the cyclical downturn and even meltdown of the markets, as happened with the Lehmann Brothers crash in 2008, when the bullish Indian art market went in for a major course correction.

Connoisseurs with deep pockets will continue to throw their weight behind the eternal works by masters, and as the buyers of Indian art themselves mature, they will pull out other masters from the fringes of the market and place them right at the thick of things. A proof of this is the enhanced interest in the works of Bhupen Khakhar, NS Bendre, Ganesh Pyne, Nasreen Mohamedi, and Pakistani masters such as MAR Chughtai and Anwar Jalal Shemza, to name some (works by Pakistani masters continue to be offered in the South Asian sales globally, which are otherwise largely devoted to Indian art, there being no global dedicated sale of Pakistani art).

As we enter the New Year 2022, the world seems more uncertain than before due to the renewed coronavirus threat. The earliest casualty was the India Art Fair 2022, which was scheduled for February 3-6, but has already been postponed, perhaps to April. The first major wave of auctions - the spring sales - held traditionally in March, may or may not get affected due to the pandemic. However, what is certain is that the strong works by India's top masters will continue to fetch good prices, and perhaps, set new records too. And newer, deserving names will keep getting their long-awaited place under the sun.

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