Unsung masters make it big at Sotheby's auction

The top-selling work for the entire sale was Painting 4, an oil on canvas by the most valuable name on the Indian art market, Vasudeo S Gaitonde (1924-2001). Estimated at $1.5m – $2m (approx. Rs 11.4 crore – Rs 15.2 crore), it was sold for $2.47 m (approx. Rs 18.8 crore).

As expected, Baroda artist Bhupen Khakhar's Sheikh Shoe Mart, too went beyond its pre-auction estimates, by selling for more than double the highest estimate. Khakhar (1934-2003), whose works have been attracting discerning buyers for the past year in a big way, has been experiencing a steady appreciation in prices for his canvases. Painted in 1977, Sheikh Shoe Mart is part of Khakhar's 'trade' series of works; it was estimated at $300,000 – $500,000 (approx. Rs 2.29 crore – Rs 3.8 crore) but fetched $1,381,000 (approx. Rs 10.5 crore)

Sculptors Amar Nath Sehgal and Meera Mukherjee — names that even art aficionados are not much familiar with — have turned out as the biggest stars at the Sotheby's auction of Modern and Contemporary South Asian Art held in New York on 21 March. And as a consequence, these two artists have succeeded in expanding the arc of the spotlight at top international auctions that has so far fallen only on a select bunch of modern Indian masters.

The star sculptors

Nari, a modernist bronze sculpture by Amar Nath Sehgal (1922-2007) was sold for eight times its highest pre-auction estimate. Cast in 1986, Nari was estimated at $24,000 – $34,000 (approx. Rs 18.33 lakh – Rs 25.97 lakh) but was bought for $277,200 (approx. Rs 2.11 crore). That's a strong backing by the market for the work of a seminal artist who has been lying at the sidelines of superlative modern Indian art, despite being among the best in his generation.

Sehgal's other work on offer, too - Lovers, a 1957 bronze - bested its pre-auction estimate of $15,000 – $20,000 (approx. Rs 11.4 lakh – Rs 15.2 lakh) by selling for $63,000 (approx. Rs 47.9 lakh).

Born in Attock in present-day Pakistan on 5 February 1922, Sehgal studied industrial chemistry and physics but as he was interested in the arts since childhood, he topped it with a degree in arts from the New York University in 1948. He worked as an arts consultant with the government of India for reviving folk arts thereafter but eventually quit his job to launch himself full-time as a practicing artist. He travelled widely across Europe from the late 1960s onwards and even set up a studio in Luxembourg. Though he worked across mediums, he is best remembered for his modernist sculptures of which the two works in the Sotheby's sale are an example.

Similar was the experience for two works of Meera Mukherjee (1923-98) on offer. Her undated bronze, Untitled (Mango Orchard), nearly doubled its highest pre-auction estimate ($80,000 – $120,000 / approx. Rs 60 lakh – Rs 91 lakh) to sell for $226,800 (approx. Rs 1.72 crore). Her other bronze, Santur Player from 1981, too went for more than its pre-auction estimate of $50,000 – $70,000 (approx. Rs 38 lakh – Rs 53.2 lakh). It was bought for $81,900 (approx. Rs 62.3 lakh).

Mukherjee has for long remained beyond the ambit of modern Indian art's focus despite being one of the earliest modernist women sculptors of the country. Born in rural Rajshahi in present-day Bangladesh in 1923, Mukherjee studied at the Indian Society for Oriental Art, Calcutta, and later at Delhi Polytechnic where she studied painting, graphics, and sculpture. In the 1950s, she went to Germany on a fellowship where she was mentored by renowned artists Toni Stadler and Heinrich Kirchner at the Academy of Fine Arts, Munich. In the 1960s, she documented the craft practices of the artisans of Bastar on a Government of India commission, when she also learnt the dhokra metal craft of the central Indian tribal communities, who employ the lost-wax casting technique to create distinctive metal works. Mukherjee brought both her European training and knowledge of traditional Indian techniques to create a unique language of her own bearing both the modernist and traditionalist elements. This is most evident in her work, Santur Player, offered at the auction on 21 March.

Top-selling works

Though the bronzes by Amar Nath Sehgal and Meera Mukherjee succeeded in hogging the limelight at the auction, works by artists who are the market favourites too lived up to the hype and expectations associated with their names.

The top-selling work for the entire sale was Painting 4, an oil on canvas by the most valuable name on the Indian art market, Vasudeo S Gaitonde (1924-2001). Estimated at $1.5–$2 million (approx. Rs 11.4 crore – Rs 15.2 crore), it was sold for $2.47 million (approx. Rs 18.8 crore).

As expected, Baroda artist Bhupen Khakhar's Sheikh Shoe Mart, too went beyond its pre-auction estimates, by selling for more than double the highest estimate. Khakhar (1934-2003), whose works have been attracting discerning buyers for the past year in a big way, has been experiencing a steady appreciation in prices for his canvases. Painted in 1977, Sheikh Shoe Mart is part of Khakhar's 'trade' series of works; it was estimated at $300,000 – $500,000 (approx. Rs 2.29 crore – Rs 3.8 crore) but fetched $1,381,000 (approx. Rs 10.5 crore).

The third most expensive work to be sold was Untitled oil on canvas by Jehangir Sabavala (1922-2011), estimated between $600,000 – $800,000 (approx. Rs 4.5 crore – Rs 6.1 crore). It was bought for $945,000 (approx. Rs 7.1 crore).

Ganesh Pyne (1937-2013) is another artist whose works have constantly been achieving breakthrough prices in the past few years. In this auction as well, his work exceeded the estimates by a wide margin. Slumberland, a tempera on canvas work by Pyne from 1971, was estimated between $100,000 – $150,000 (approx. Rs 76 lakh – Rs 1.1 crore), whereas it fetched $529,200 or approx. Rs 4 crore.

Another important highlight of the auction was the interest generated by works by artists from the late 19th- early 20th century when academic realism held sway over the imagination of young Indian artists. These masters have for long remained overshadowed by the generation that came of age along with India's Independence, chiefly the Progressives, who rejected academic realism in favour of a modern idiom. Among the academic realists, prices achieved by the works of Pestonji E. Bomanji (1851-1938) and Laxman Narain Taskar (1870-1937) deserve a mention.

Bomanji's 1877 oil on canvas, A Head of a Gosain, was estimated between $3,000 and $5,000 (approx. Rs 2.28 lakh and Rs 3.8 lakh) but was picked up for $47,880 (approx. Rs 36.47 lakh). Similarly, Taskar's undated oil on canvas, Untitled (Maharashtra Temple Scene), was estimated between $5,000 and $7,000 (approx. Rs 3.8 lakh and Rs 5.3 lakh) but went for an impressive $35,280 or approx. Rs 26.8 lakh.

This was the first major auction of Indian art on the global platform this year, and the splendid performance by most of the lots on offer is a pointer towards better tidings for the art market in particular, and the world in general that has suffered due to the pandemic for the past two years. If the next big auction of Indian art - by Christie's in New York on March 23 - yields similar results, then the Indian art market can truly hope for a memorable year ahead.

(The writer is a New Delhi-based journalist, editor and arts consultant)

The third most expensive work to be sold was Untitled oil on canvas by Jehangir Sabavala (1922-2011), estimated between $600,000 – $800,000 (approx. Rs 4.5 crore – Rs 6.1 crore). It was bought for $945,000 (approx. Rs 7.1 crore).

Ganesh Pyne (1937-2013) is another artist whose works have constantly been achieving breakthrough prices in the past few years. In this auction as well, his work exceeded the estimates by a wide margin. Slumberland, a tempera on canvas work by Pyne from 1971, was estimated between $100,000 – $150,000 (approx. Rs 76 lakh – Rs 1.1 crore), whereas it fetched $529,200 or approx. Rs 4 crore