Christie’s NY Brings Out the Buyers

For those who thought that prices might have reached their peak and may be starting on a downward trend, a paraphrased quote from American humorist Mark Twain might be in order: “The report of my (insert ‘the Indian art market’) demise has been greatly exaggerated”—at least at Christie’s September 20th South Asian Modern + Contemporary Art auction. Buyers threw all caution to the wind during the morning session, which brought in a total of $10,115,050*.

Consider that of the 110 lots sold, 70% went down the hammer above their pre-sale estimates. Consider that Arpita Singh’s free-floating composition The Eternal Repose sold for $253,000, TV Santhosh’s Across an Unresolved Story went for $217,000 and his Rats and Man Made Famine III for $91,000 (both estimated at $30,000 - $40,000), and that Atul Dodiya’s oil and acrylic on canvas Three Painters topped out at a whopping $541,000 (est. $150,000 - $200,000). And that’s not counting other “secondary artists” as well as works by the Progressives. It was a great day for the genre.

The morning session began with three Jamini Roy gouaches doubling their estimates, with prices extending early on with MF Husain’s Indian village life-themed Birds-in-Tree that sold for $361,000 and an untitled work for $301,000. Other PAG artists fared as strongly with FN Newton’s sublime depiction of the female form entitled Nude with Fruit surpassing the half million-dollar estimate, selling for $657,000, another untitled nude for $457,000, while his Townscape went for $265,000. Later, three Ram Kumar’s sold for $181,000. $193,000 and $337,000; an SH Raza Bindu for $217,000 and his La Terre for $421,000. Top draw of this sale was Tyeb Mehta’s Mahishasura, which closed at $1,105,000.

Prices sustained throughout, with Chintan Upadhyay’s Sorry Does Not Make Any Difference I falling at $91,000, KCS Paniker’s Words and Symbols for $43,000 (est. $3,000 - $5,000), an Anish Kapoor watercolor for $51,400, Biren De’s April ’73 for $85,000, Bikash Bhattacharjee’s A Social Gathering for $181,000, a Ravinder Reddy polyester, resin, and fiberglass bust for $187,000. The buying surge carried through to the end with an untitled watercolor on paper laid down on cloth by Avinash Chandra selling for $145,000, Shibu Natesan’s Montage I for $157,000, and Rameshwar Broota’s A Chance Encounter for $265,000.

Perhaps the one nadir at Christie’s was that 33 (23%) lots were passed including works by Husain, Souza, Akbar Padamsee, Pabhakar Kolte among some less familiar names; nonetheless, the day’s results suggests that the Indian contemporary art market remains a strong and vibrant one, with no adjustment in values yet.

*All prices quoted include the buyer's premium and are rounded to the nearest dollar