London, May 26: Indian summer is starting in London as art world gets ready for major auctions of modern and contemporary art and an array of exhibitions on Indian art. Not just London, Europe too is buzzing with Indian art:
Prestigious Venice Biennale will feature Indian pavilion for the first time with an exhibition, Everyone Agrees: It’s About to Explode, curated by Ranjit Hoskote.
“The international art world continues to deepen its interest, understanding, appreciation and support of South Asian artists, with this year’s Venice Biennale featuring the first Indian Pavilion and revered institutions such as the Centre Pompidou (in Paris) currently showing Paris-Delhi-Bombay, whilst Musée Guimet (in Paris) is holding a solo show of Rina Banerjee,” explains Yamini Mehta, director of modern and contemporary South Asian art at Christie’s in London. The path-breaking Progressive Artists Group is still the best attraction for Indian art worldwide and the celebrated masters linked to it — Tyeb Mehta, Maqbool Fida Husain, Syed Haider Raza, Francis Newton Souza — command the best prices at auctions across the world. Tyeb Mehta, whose Mahisasura was the first Indian contemporary painting to have crossed the million-dollar barrier, is expected to break records with the auction of 1984 painting, Untitled (Figure on Rickshaw). The painting by Mehta, who passed away in 2009, is estimated to sell for between £800,000 and £1,200,000 by Christie’s auction house. His Mahisasura in 2005 was sold for nearly $1.6 million. Mehta’s Bulls, a diptych painted in 2005-2007, is his most expensive painting sold so far — it was auctioned for £1.7 million in New York earlier this year.
“This sale presents the market with one of the most exciting groups of contemporary South Asian Art ever to be offered at auction. The strength and breadth of the works offered is exhilarating. Compositionally, Mehta’s Untitled (Figure on Rickshaw), is one of his greatest works and undoubtedly one of the most significant works by the artist to be sold in the last 10 years,” said Ms Mehta.
Syed Haider Raza’s Bindu, painted in 1985, is estimated to sell for £400,000-600,000 at Sotheby’s auction on May 31.
His painting Saurashtra was auctioned for £2,393,250 ($3,486,965) in London last year in June by Christie’s, a world record for any modern Indian work of art. Raza’s Rue des Fossés St Jaques is estimated to sell for at £300,000-500,000. M.F. Husain’s The Sixth Seal is estimated to sell for £400,000-500,000 at Sotheby’s auction.
Also on sale will be a selection of 54 works by Souza, including 45 works offered directly from the family. Souza was photographed by Armenian photographer Ida Kar in 1957-1961 and these photographs taken in London are being exhibited in London. The exhibition will travel to New Delhi, Mumbai and Goa in October.
“These photographs of the artist during 1957-1961 document a crucial phase in both Kar’s and Souza’s artistic careers. The exhibition and the events around it will shed light on this period and the relationship between Kar and Souza whilst they were immersed in London’s flourishing art scene,” Grosvenor Vadhera said.
Indian high commission’s cultural wing, the Nehru Centre, will hold a two-day exhibition of works by famous contemporary artists like Paresh Maity, Jayasri Burman, Anjolie Ela Menon, Laxman Goud, and Lalu Prasad Shaw.
Francesca Galloway gallery in Mayfair, which deals with Indian art and Asian and European textiles, has an exhibition of wall hangings, pashmina carpet fragments, architectural drawings and watercolours of Mughal monuments in Agra, stone carvings and an album on Bengal.