Raja Ravi Varma’s ‘Mohini’ tops Pundole’s auction at Rs 17 crore

National Treasure artist Raja Ravi Varma’s oil on canvas, Mohini, has sold for Rs 17 crore at Pundole’s auction, The Fine Art Sale, held in Mumbai on the evening of Thursday, April 25. That makes it the most expensive work sold at this auction featuring several superlative works, by Nasreen Mohamedi, KK Hebbar, MF Husain and Ram Kumar, among other topnotch artists.

This work by Raja Ravi Varma (1848-1906) was estimated at Rs 10 crore to Rs 15 crore before the auction. Measuring 36 ½ x 24 ½ inch (approx. 3 x 2 feet), it is a beautiful painting that captures a maiden enjoying an evening on a swing fastened high on a big tree. The natural light falls fabulously on her and the giant tree behind, lighting up her luscious hair and white-golden pallu of her saree, both of which sway delicately with the lady’s movement on the swing.

This signature Raja Ravi Varma work hailed from the Fritz Schleicher Family Collection. It was acquired by Fritz Schleicher in 1903, when he purchased Varma’s lithographic press and its contents from the artist. Schleicher was a German printer from Berlin, who was employed by Varma at the Ravi Varma Oleographic and Chromolithographic Printing Workshop that he had opened in Lonavala in 1894 to reproduce his oil paintings as prints to make them available to the public at large. As India’s first oleography press, it revolutionized art in the country, taking it out of the royal courts and temples to the homes of the common people. Schleicher was highly qualified in colour lithographic printing and when Varma sold him the press in 1903, he renamed it The Ravi Varma Fine Art Lithographic Works; the press is known to have thrived under Schleicher.

Mohini, at Rs 17 crore, has become one of the top Raja Ravi Varma works sold at auctions though there are a few other works that have sold at higher prices at previous auctions. In February 2023, Varma’s Yashoda Krishna sold for approx. Rs 38 crore at a Pundole’s auction, which is the highest known price achieved by any of his paintings; another of his works, Lord Shiva and Family, sold for Rs 16 crore at the same auction. Some years ago, Varma’s Radha in the Moonlight had sold for Rs 20 crore at yet another Pundole’s auction.

On April 6, 2022, Varma’s Draupadi Vastraharan, an oil on canvas circa 1888-90, had sold for Rs 21.60 crore at Saffronart’s Spring Live Auction: Modern Indian Art. Earlier, on December 15, 2021, another of his oils, Music Hath Charms (Kadambari), circa 1900s, had fetched Rs 20.40 crore at a Saffronart auction.

As Raja Ravi Varma is one of India’ nine National Treasure Artists, his works are non-exportable. One of his biggest legacies for modern Indian art is the democratization that he brought to it, making art accessible even for those who did not have deep pockets; he gave faces to the huge pantheon of Hindu gods and mythological characters, which brought alive the country’s history in every little drawing room in different corners of the country.

Other Top Lots at Pundole’s

Besides the headlining work by Raja Ravi Varma, many other works rode what seemed like a wave of popularity as they managed to push beyond their highest pre-auction estimates.

A scintillating performer was an Untitled abstract work by Nasreen Mohamedi (1937-1990), which was estimated at Rs 3 crore – Rs 5 crore but sold for more than double its pre-auction estimate, fetching Rs 11 crore. Measuring 36 ¼ x 60 in. (approx. 3 x 5 ft), it’s a serene landscape in shades of taupe with hints of grey and black, evoking placid emotions. It is a much-travelled work, having been exhibited at the artist’s solo at Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid, in 2015-16; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, in 2016; and at Jehangir Nicholson Art Foundation & Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya, Mumbai, in 2023.

MF Husain’s Glaze of an Icon, a 1971 oil on canvas, featuring a figure riding his iconic horse, sold for Rs 5.50 crore against an estimate of Rs 4 crore – Rs 6 crore. Another of his paintings featuring his well-known horses, Untitled, from 1982, sold for Rs 32 lakh against an estimate of Rs 12 lakh – Rs 18 lakh.

A pleasant surprise - and a long overdue one - was the high price achieved by a welded steel sculpture by Adi Davierwalla (1922-75), dated to 1967. Titled Surya Dev (Study), it was estimated at Rs 30 lakh – Rs 50 lakh but was sold for a whopping Rs 3.50 crore. This was a maquette created for a public sculpture of the same name that the artist was commissioned for Ananta Co-operative Housing Society, Mumbai, which is now unfortunately demolished. The maquette measures a little over a foot at 14 1/8 in while the public sculpture stood tall at a monumental 12 feet.

Another work at the auction that went for more than Rs 1 crore was Ram Kumar’s Untitled oil on canvas, an abstract landscape, that was estimated at Rs 1 crore – Rs 2 crore and sold for Rs 1.7 crore.

A happy tiding was the prices achieved by works by one of India’s most important modernists, Kattingeri Krishna Hebbar (1911-1996), whose canvases are yet to achieve the peak at auctions that they truly deserve. Almost all his works on offer sold for approximately 3 to 5 times their estimates, such as: Dancer (Rs 48 lakh), Tamasha (Rs 24 lakh), Untitled (Farmers) (Rs 18 lakh) and Untitled (Rs 17 lakh).

Among the folk art works on offer, an Untitled work by Jangarh Singh Shyam (1962-2001)—the most well-known Gond artist from Madhya Pradesh—sold for Rs 50 lakh against an estimate of Rs 25 lakh – Rs 35 lakh. Warli art works by the best-known practitioner of the art, Jivya Soma Mashe (1934-2018) and his son Balu Jivya Mashe (b. 1970) also sold way above their estimates. Mashe senior’s Untitled work sold for Rs 8.5 lakh against an estimate for Rs 1.50 lakh – Rs 2 lakh, while his son’s Untitled work sold for Rs 4.20 lakh against an estimate of Rs 60,000 – Rs 80,000.

(The writer is a New Delhi-based senior journalist, columnist, and a commentator on art, books, society, and more. She can be reached at [email protected])