Saffronart, AstaGuru art auctions see record sales

This past week, two important auctions concluded successfully setting a new set of records for a newer set of artworks by traditionally high-performing artists. While AstaGuru held its ‘Visionaries’ auction on June 22-23, Saffronart held its Summer Online Auction on June 26-27. The former featured works by contemporary artists (the auction house had earlier held an auction dedicated to the modern masters, titled ‘Stroke & Structure’, on June 20-21), while the latter presented a mix of works by the modern masters and contemporary artists.

Raza on Top Again at Saffronart

‘Untitled (Village)’ by SH Raza (1922-2016), a 1956 oil on canvas, became the top selling work at Saffronart’s Summer Online Auction. Estimated at Rs 3.32 crore – Rs 4.98 crore ($400,000 - $600,000), it was sold for Rs 5.97 crore ($720,000). An early career work, it features European countryside, showing a cluster of houses with red earth in the foreground. It hails from the artist’s first decade in France, when his landscapes were transitioning from realism to abstractionism. This red landscape is a signature mix of realism and abstractionism showing distinct signs of the artist’s oeuvre turning to gestural abstractionism in near future, to eventually lay the foundation for his most famous ‘Bindu’ series of works that belong to the class of geometrical abstractionism.

The second-best price was achieved by a work by Gulam Mohammed Sheikh (1937), who has been very much in the news since the start of this year. Sheikh’s seminal retrospectives have been held at Vadehra Art Gallery in New Delhi and Chemould Prescott Road in Mumbai earlier this year, while Gallery Sumukha of Bengaluru opens another retrospective on his works this evening (June 29). Concomitant with this has been the rising graph of prices of his works at auctions.

In keeping with the trend, Sheikh’s 2001 oil on canvas, ‘Talisman: Taveez’, which was estimated at Rs 3 crore – Rs 5 crore ($361,450 - $602,410), sold for Rs 4.80 crore ($578,313).

At number three in terms of price achieved was ‘Untitled’, a 1999 oil on canvas by Arpita Singh (b. 1937). Estimated at Rs 1.66 crore – Rs 2.49 crore ($200,000 - $300,000), it fetched Rs 3.78 crore ($456,000), way above its estimates.

Other notable highlights included more than the double of the estimate achieved by a work by Nalini Malani (b. 1946). ‘Bloodlines’, a 1993-94 oil on canvas by Malani, was estimated at Rs 30 lakh – Rs 50 lakh ($36,145 - $60,245) but eventually went for Rs 1.32 crore ($159,036).

An early career work by Ram Kumar (1924-2018), ‘Untitled’, 1955, was estimated at Rs 16.60 lakh – Rs 24.90 lakh ($20,000 - $30,000). It was sold for more than four times its estimate, for Rs 1.19 crore ($144,000).

Another superlative performer was a work by MAR Chughtai (1894-1975), one of the most well-known modernist masters of Pakistan, widely considered the national artist of his country. His undated watercolour on card, ‘Mughal’, showing a young man in Mughal attire in his signature style combining Bengal School wash technique with Mughal miniature stylisation, was estimated at Rs 41.50 lakh – Rs 58.10 lakh ($50,000 - $70,000) but fetched Rs 1.09 crore ($132,000).

‘The Citi of Faith’ by Paresh Maity (b. 1965), an oil and acrylic on canvas from 2006, was estimated at Rs 8 lakh – Rs 12 lakh ($9,640 - $14,460) but fetched Rs 42 lakh ($50,602). An ‘Untitled’ metal sculpture by Raghav Kaneria (b. 1936) was estimated at Rs 12.45 lakh – Rs 16.60 lakh ($15,000 – $20,000) but eventually sold for Rs 34.86 lakh ($42,000). ‘Untitled (Ganga)’ by Jayasri Burman (b. 1960), an intricately detailed work in watercolour, pen and ink on paper pasted on aluminium composite panel was estimated at Rs 7 lakh – Rs 9 lakh ($8,435 - $10,845) but fetched Rs 33.60 lakh ($40,482).

Quite a few other works fared very well compared to their pre-auction estimates. These include Sohan Qadri’s ‘Abyss’, a 2007 ink and dye work on canvas, which was estimated at Rs 6.64 lakh – Rs 9.96 lakh ($8,000 - $12,000) but fetched Rs 29.88 lakh ($36,000).

Contemporaries Shine at AstaGuru

The ‘Visionaries’ auction by AstaGuru, held online on June 22-23, saw many contemporaries shine brightly. Bharti Kher’s ‘Untitled’ work from 2012, made of bindis on painted board—her signature style—was estimated at Rs 80 lakh – Rs 1.20 crore but fetched Rs 1.36 crore ($166,864). Anish Kapoor’s ‘Mountain’, an acrylic on fibreboard work, 1996, fetched Rs 70.09 lakh ($85,478), against an estimate of Rs 60 lakh – Rs 80 lakh.

The third best price was achieved by ‘The Stage’, a 2023 oil on canvas by Nataraj Sharma, at Rs 35.04 lakh ($42,739), against an estimate of Rs 30 lakh – Rs 40 lakh.

TV Santhosh’s ‘For A Life Lost Between Bullets and Bombs (Diptych)’ fetched Rs 28.50 lakh ($34,763), against an estimate of Rs 25 lakh – Rs 30 lakh. It is in signature green and yellow neon light colours, the series which attained great fame for Santhosh when he first started making it.

Rekha Rodwittiya’s ‘Intangible Interlocution: An Anthology Of Belonging (Diagrams Of An Interior Space)’ also went for Rs 28.12 lakh ($34,301). It was one of the best performing works at the auction as it went for much more than its pre-auction estimate of Rs 6 lakh – Rs 8 lakh.

An ‘Untitled’ work by Jagannath Panda went for Rs 27.47 lakh ($33,506). The top ten list was rounded off by two works by Valay Shende and a work each by Anjum Singh and Jitish Kallat. Shende’s ‘Girl With Balloons’ and ‘Boy With Balloons’ both fetched Rs 23.36 lakh ($28,492) each. Both of these works are made of stainless steel discs, colour coated stainless steel discs and colour coated MS base. ‘Footpath (Hexaptych)’, a 2007 oil on canvas by Anjum Singh—the daughter of renowned artists Arpita and Paramjeet Singh, who passed away tragically due to cancer in 2020 at the age of 52—fetched Rs 18.88 lakh ($23,024). Kallat’s ‘Breathing 2’, a 2002 acrylic on canvas, fetched Rs 18.81 lakh ($22,943) against an estimate of Rs 10 lakh – Rs 15 lakh.

Debanjan Roy’s ‘India Shining VI (Gandhi Walking Dog)’, from his very well-known series of sculptures featuring Gandhi in contemporary settings, made in aluminium painted with bright red acrylic paint, sold for Rs 6.73 lakh against an estimate of Rs 2 lakh – Rs 3 lakh.

(The writer is a New Delhi-based senior journalist, columnist, and a commentator on art, books, market, society, and more)