NYC Auction Results – Buyers in a Sunny Mood

Sales have concluded at Christie’s and Sotheby’s New York, and like a spring typhoon, have left quite an impact in their wake. The final combined take for the two events was over $23,000,000--a very large pot of gold at the end of the Indian contemporary art rainbow.

Wednesday, March 21 was the day of the Christie’s auction, and although no works broke the million-dollar mark (Tyeb Mehta’s Diagonal XV was passed), prices remained solid for PAG oils on canvas—and did particularly well for their works on paper. The story on this day, though, was demand for pieces for painters not affiliated with this influential movement. If a sign of things to come, watch out for such names as K. K. Hebbar, Biren De, B. Phabha, Sakti Burman, Bhupen Khakhar, Manjit Bawa, Santish Gujral, and Jitsh Kallat. They and others on the “second tier” may be the next big thing for this genre.

Among other highlights at this auction, M. F. Husain’s Woman with Veena went for $132,000 with the money donated to Pratham UK and NGO charities aimed at eradicating illiteracy in India. Total sales for the 119 lots available were $8,593,080.

At Sotheby’s the next day, everything was coming up green—as in $15,007, 880 for the 172 lots up for bid. A majority of the works, which included miniatures and illustrations, sold at or over their pre-sale estimates, seemingly regardless of the artist or the medium. Whether a Tagore watercolor, a Mehta oil, a Shandi Dave work in mixed media, or a page from an early 19th century Bhagavata Purana, collectors snapped up pieces throughout the entirety of the morning session in a thunderous display of enthusiasm.

As the sales floors cleared, it seems the forecast for Indian contemporary art market will remain sunny and hot, hopefully for the full year ahead. At present, there seems to be no downturn in prices from 2006.

(To browse catalogues of these auctions or to review complete results by lot, click on the auctions houses link to the right of this blog).