On the day M.F. Husain died, two of his paintings went under the hammer at Christie’s in London, amid expectations worldwide, and heightened in India, that the death will now increase the value of his works.
The expectations were both belied and fulfilled at Christie’s auction in London on Thursday. Lot-116, Sita with the
Golden Deer, a 1991 Husain in acrylic on canvas, went for £70,850 (`51.7 lakhs). This was more or less in line with the pre-auction expectation of £50,000 to £70,000 for the painting signed thrice by Husain in English, Hindi and Urdu. However, the other painting, Lot-82, sold beyond Christie’s expectation.
The abstract titled Provenance, an oil on canvas from the seventies, went for £37,250 (over `27 lakhs), way beyond the £15,000-£20,000 expected.
Both the paintings are from properties of important private collectors, Sonal Singh of Christie’s South Asian modern and contemporary art section, told Financial Chronicle.
The death of the ailing and frail Husain has certainly further stoked interest in his works and discreet inquiries about the kind of extra premium his works may now command have already begun in the Indian art circuit.
The general feeling is that prices of Husains will certainly rise overnight but it will be foolhardy to think they will double immediately. Art investment experts expect the market to see a flood of Husains hitting the market, as the master was generous with his small works often sketched or drawn on the spot and gifted to fawning fans.
Lots of works are still held by recipients of Husain’s impromptu generosity before his fame spread so far and wide (and even later, though the generosity later became selective).
Some of these works may now find their way to the market and the usual demand-supply equation is one reason why prices may not reach stratospheric levels. Even so, a value escalation of as much as 50 per cent may be anticipated, art investment experts say.
A trailer of sorts was seen early this week, this may or may not have been connected with his ill health, though his end was being anticipated for sometime. After all, he was past 95 and unwell. Three of his paintings are believed to have topped the charts at Bonham’s auction in London this week, going under the hammer for `2.32 crores. One untitled oil — a combo horse-and-woman motif — alone fetched `1.23 crores.
In Saffronart’s summer and autumn auction last year, another untitled work was the highest value lot sold at `1.06 crores ($235,750). In 2008 a Mumbai-based buyer had picked up a Husain canvas for `4.4 crores.
Yet, none of these was the best a Husain has fetched at auctions. That honour went in a 2008 Christie’s auction to an oil on canvas titled Battle of Ganga and Jamuna: Mahabharata. It went for $1,609,000 (`6.5 crores), way above the expected $600,000 to $800,000 for the 1971-72 oil on canvas.
Ajay Seth, owner of the Delhi-based Copal Art, a research and advisory organisation offering services in art bank development and client portfolio management, is one of those who believe Husains will now go for much more.