This past March has been a much-anticipated month on the calendar for Indian art world honchos everywhere. After seeing prices of Modern and Contemporary art nosedive last year, all eyes have been on the first round of South Asian art auctions in New York.
It’s become a well-established fact that the Christie’s and Sotheby’s auctions in New York, which are traditionally preceded by the Indian auctions at Saffronart and Osian’s, reflect the mood of the market, and moreover, generate the buzz (or alternatively, sound the death knell) for the year. It’s somewhat rare that poor auctions in March can yield positive results for the subsequent June and September sales and vice-versa. If March starts on a good note, art dealers can breathe a collective sigh of relief. Unless something goes radically wrong – as it did in 2008 – strong results in March means businesses are safe and sound, for the most part.
Dealers can breathe a sigh of relief – now. The Christie’s and Sotheby’s auctions showed a gross return up 300% this year from March 2009. The sales aggregate for March 2008 for South Asian art, including Indian and Southeast Asian art and antiquities, was US$30,690,800, in March 2009 it plummeted 75% to US$7,784,000 and this March it’s back up almost 300% to US$23,242,800. Two lots broke the US$1 million dollar mark, each by Modernist Indian artists. A large, abstract canvas by Syed Haider Raza painted in 1989 titled Gestation sold for US$1,202,500 to an anonymous buyer at Christie’s South Asian Modern + Contemporary Art sale on March 23 while a much-touted vintage canvas from 1955 by Maqbool Fida Husain from a Florida Estate grossed US$1,058,500 at the Indian and Southeast Asian Art sale at Sotheby’s the next day. Close on the heels of these Modernist works was an Indian antique of a highly important mottled red sandstone head of a Jina from the Gupta Period achieving US$986,500 at Christie’s Indian and Southeast Asian Art sale.
While this sounds like a startling recovery for an art market that was projected to be in the doldrums for the next 3 to 5 years by industry experts, as always, there’s a twist in the tale. Modernist Indian artists, specifically the Progressives, are driving the market. Progressive artists like Husain, Souza, Raza, Akbar Padamsee, Vasudeo S. Gaitonde and Tyeb Mehta are amongst the favorites. A large canvas by Husain portraying the artist’s mythological horses sold for US$842,500 at Christie’s while a vintage canvas by Akbar Padamsee from 1962 sold for US$578,500 at the same auction. (A very important canvas titled Prophet painted by Padamsee in 1953 sold earlier at Saffronart’s on-line auction on March 10-11 for US$278,875). A large 1971 canvas by Raza titled L’Inconnu also sold for US$458,500 at Sotheby’s.
Works by Souza performed well consistently: the top selling lot by the late artist was a large historical and vintage canvas titled Beasts of Prey from 1963 sold for US$458,500 at Christie’s and the artist’s work grossed a total of US$2,044,500 across both auctions (A canvas of a decomposing head by Souza also sold on Saffronart for US$350,000). Two canvas works by the late Gaitonde, who many claim is India’s most significant abstract artist, sold for US$554,500 and US$422,500 each at Christie’s. While there were no signature Tyeb Mehta canvases in this round of sales in New York, a vintage canvas from 1959 by the artist sold for US$566,500 at Sotheby’s. (A signature canvas from 1998 by Tyeb Mehta from the Mahishasura series auctioned at Osian’s – for a reported 4.56 crores on March 20).
The Progressives were joined in the upper register of pricing by tribal and folk-influenced Modernist artists Manjit Bawa and Jagdish Swaminathan. The largest Manjit Bawa canvas to come to auction depicting a rider atop two white horses sold at Sotheby’s for US$602,500 and a similarly high-quality work by the artist sold for US$434,500 at Christie’s. Two canvas works by the late Swaminathan depicting his signature bird-and-mountain theme sold at Christie’s for US$182,500 and Sotheby’s for US$290,500. (Two canvases were auctioned at Saffronart for US$129,375 and US$122,671 each). The Bengal Modernist Jamini Roy has also become a Christie’s and Sotheby’s staple. While values for a single work by the artist remain under US$20,000, good authentic works are hard to come by and so have become solid bets for the auction houses. The biggest surprise of the auctions came from an unlikely source: a rare work on paper by Abdur Rahman Chughtai, one of Pakistan’s most important artists from the last century, depicting Arjuna as Victor in the Chughtai style that was estimated between US$30,000-50,000 sold for close to ten times over the reserve price at US$254,000 at Christie’s.
While general optimism has returned to roost in the Indian art market after the March auctions, some caution should be reserved in reading the results. While the Modernists, led by the Progressives, have consolidated their position at the forefront of the Indian art market, the surge in interest, while it promises no signs of a slowdown this year, may be fuelled as much by speculative interests that hedges its bets on Modernists as the future bearers of Indian heritage and therefore as an excellent proposition for investment. As long as these interests are not short-term in nature, and maintain long-term horizons of five years or more, then the Modernist market appears to be in no danger of negative trending as a likely outcome. The same can be said for South Asian antiquities, which showed considerable consolidation in pricing, especially for rare works. In addition to the Jina head, important antiques including a highly important gilt bronze figure of Kunzang Akhor dated from the 13th century from Nepal sold for US$872,500, a bronze figure of Uma from South India from the Vijayanagar Period sold for US$422,500 and an Ivory Altarpiece of Durga Mahishasuramardini from Bengal dated 1836 sold for US$470,500.
While Indian Modern art and South Asian antiquities are starting to see the light, Contemporary art still has some way to go before it sees a recovery. While a significant work by Atul Dodiya grossed US$134,500 at Christie’s and a signature Ravinder Reddy sculpture achieved US$122,500 at Sotheby’s, the Contemporary market yielded less than 5% in value of the total aggregate sale at the foreign auction houses last month. The gradual shift in gear by both auction houses over the past year to include less Contemporary in their auctions is apparent. It’s hardly surprising since Contemporary art struggles to achieve its price levels pre-2009. Even though, the sale of a Subodh Gupta canvas titled Doot (2003) surpassed expectations in the Saffronart sale and was the highest yielding work by a Contemporary artist last month – it grossed US$391,000. (A brass and rope sculpture by the artist also achieved GBP 229,250 at the Sotheby’s Contemporary Art sale in London in February this year). In this case, a short memory would serve us well. It may be slowly dawning on auction houses that today’s winning bids may well reflect normal market conditions. If they accept that fact as reality, they no longer have to be tenuous about contemporary art, which is available now at correct market values.
(The author is an art advisor, curator and artist who lives in Mumbai and New York.)
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