11th June, 2012

INDIAN AND SOUTH ASIAN ART AT CHRISTIE'S AND SAFFRONART THIS WEEK

This week sees two outstanding auctions of Indian and South Asian art, with a host of works by master artists featuring heavily. First up is today’s Christie’s South Asian Modern and Contemporary art sale in London (2 pm local time), which features outstanding contributions by two of India’s most revered artists, Syed Haider Raza and Tyeb Mehta. And across and June 19th and 20th, Raza joins the likes of VS Gaitonde to head up Saffronart’s Summer Art Auction.

In a sale with 112 works, the sale at Christie’s contains two works that price-wise may end up standing head and shoulders ahead of the field. One of the greats of the Indian art world, Tyeb Mehta’s Untitled (GBP 1.2-1.8 million, pictured left) is a continuation of the artist’s “contemplation of the human condition””. Painted in 1996, it is informed by ancient mythology and Hindu literature, and depicts the meeting of Rambha, the “Brahmin Demon-King”, and a “she-buffalo”, which results in the “amalgamated creature known as Mahisha”.

With a total of eleven works in the sale, Syed Haider Raza is the most ubiquitous artist to feature here, led by his 1961 Forêt Vierge (price on application) and his Clocher du Village (GBP 450 - 600,000, dating from 1958. Similarly, two of Raza’s works in the online Saffronart sale should also raise considerable interest. The artist’s use of earthy colours in combination with intermeshing brushstrokes are central characteristics of his 1985 Encountre (GBP 370,373 - 462,965, pictured below left). In contrast, a use of much more vivid and varied colours twinned with less abstraction is at play in Raza’s Germination (USD 370,375 - 462,965, below right), a work that (similar to Encountre) replicates various elements from tantric symbology.

The highest-selling lot in the Saffronart sale is likely to be VS Gaitonde’s Untitled, a 1971 painting created with layer upon layer of subtle oranges, rust and umber, resulting in a gently compelling piece of work. It carries an upper pre-sale estimate of USD 700,000, which if reached, would represent a great end to two eagerly awaited Indian/South Asian auctions.

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