christie’s 3rd india sale to offer indian art ... release | november 2015 | for immediate release...
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PRESS RELEASE | November 2015 | FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CHRISTIE’S 3RD INDIA SALE TO OFFER INDIAN ART FROM 10TH TO 21ST CENTURY
PUBLIC PREVIEW EXHIBITION TO OPEN IN NEW DELHI ON 28 NOV
SYED HAIDER RAZA’S BINDU IS ONE OF AUCTION’S HIGHLIGHTS
SYED HAIDER RAZA (B. 1922), Bindu, painted in 1983. Estimate: INR10,00,00,000-15,00,00,000 - US$1,500,000-2,300,000
Mumbai – Following the announcement that Christie’s third auction to be held in Mumbai on 15 December at the Taj
Mahal Palace Hotel will include a section dedicated to Classical Indian Art, the leading auction house is pleased to
announce that a monumental painting by Syed Haider Raza (b. 1922) titled Bindu from 1983, will be one of the
highlights of its Modern and Contemporary Indian Art section.
A total of 100 works will be offered throughout the evening sale, and a selection of highlights will be travelling to New
Delhi to be on public display from Saturday 28 to Monday 30 November at the Taj Mahal Hotel. Following Christie’s
New York auction of Modern + Contemporary South Asian Art this September, where the world auction record for any
modern Indian work of art sold at auction was set when Francis Newton Souza’s Birth sold for US$4,085,000, Christie’s
third India Sale will include works sourced from important private and corporate collections.
In addition to modern masterpieces by Syed Haider Raza, Vasudeo S. Gaitonde, Tyeb Mehta, Maqbool Fida Husain and
Ram Kumar, the auction also includes important works by artists Jehangir Sabavala, Jagdish Swaminathan, Jogen
Chowdhury, Manjit Bawa, Meera Mukherjee, Nasreen Mohamedi, Bhupen Khakhar, Gulam Mohammed Sheikh and
Bharti Kher. The catalogue also features works by Nandalal Bose, Abanindranath Tagore and Gaganendranath Tagore,
who are designated ’National Treasure’ artists, which means their works cannot be exported from India, besides the
Classical Indian Art section of the sale.
“Christie’s commitment to India has grown over the past three years and the offering of Classical Indian Art for the
first time in India is part of this development plan. It will allow us to engage and advise and bring our experience and
professionalism to this additional segment of the art market in India. We also are delighted to see Credit Suisse’s
continued support for Indian art, and together, we are looking forward to welcome existing and new clients as well as
art lovers to our two preview exhibitions in New Delhi and Mumbai”, stated William Robinson, International Head of
World Art.
Mihir Doshi, Managing Director and CEO of Credit Suisse, India said: “Credit Suisse is delighted to be partnering with
Christies in India. This is our third consecutive year of collaborating with Christies to bring the best of Indian art to
clients, investors and collectors. It underlines our commitment to the Indian market and our support of the arts within
the communities in which we are present.”
Syed Haider Raza, now aged 93, is known as a master colourist and a founder member of the post-Independence
Bombay based Progressive Artists’ Group, created in 1947. Bindu was painted in 1983 (illustrated front page), a key
moment in Raza’s 40-year-long association with the Indian aesthetics and geometric abstraction. The work is
estimated at INR 10,00,00,000-15,00,00,000 or $1.5-2.3 million and was acquired directly from the artist by the
present owner and this is the first time it is being offered at auction. Bindu demonstrates the shift in Raza’s style from
expressionist to geometric abstraction, and the bindu itself represents the primordial seed of nothingness from which
all creation is believed to be born. Although it is the principal around which the artist structures his canvas, this circle
or bindu is less a graphical component and more the central point representing concentrated potential energy.
Manjit Bawa’s (1941-2008) Untitled (Krishna) oil on canvas was
painted in the 1990s and will be offered with an estimate of INR
2,50,00,000-3,00,00,000. Bawa's paintings demonstrate a preference
for economy of line and form over narrative, where extraneous detail
is eliminated in favour of bold contour and monochromatic brilliant
backdrops of pure horizon-less space. The influence of classical Indian
artistic tradition is evident both in Bawa's poise and palette. With an
almost sardonic simplicity, Bawa conjures a window into another
world, revealing a realm of imagination, myth, mysticism and magic.
The motif of the violet musical virtuoso suggests the god Krishna,
traditionally depicted playing his melodious flute as his cows graze
nearby. With only his torso visible, his eyes glance upward unerringly
to the heavens. Bawa's painting creates a seductive reality where
gods, men and beasts live in perennial peace in this enchanted
empire. Hovering above his sacred bovine companion, the two
fractured figures are unified through shimmering shades of pink
found atop the beast's brow, as if reflecting in the light of his divine
master.
The Casuarina Line II by Jehangir Sabavala (1922-2011), painted in 2002 is estimated at INR 1,20,00,000-1,80,00,000
and has been acquired by the present owner directly from the artist. Another work that has been sourced privately
and offered for the first time at auction. This painting
was exhibited as part of a major retrospective of the
artist’s work at the National Gallery of Modern Art in
New Delhi and Mumbai in 2005-06. The Casuarina
Line II is part of a series of three works that explores
the effects of changing light on the land and sea at
various points in the diurnal cycle. This particular
canvas offers a dazzling sunset view of the
uninhabited sandbar at the horizon that features in
each of the works. Sandwiched between the sky and
the ocean, both lit up in brilliant shades of orange and
vermillion by the setting sun, this small peninsula is populated only by a group of casuarina or ironwood trees, which
merge into a single entity in front of the golden orb. Evolving from detailed studies in the artist’s sketch books, his
landscapes are complex constructions based on meticulous linear schema. Their horizontals and verticals, points of
focus and perspective, divide and define the picture plane, bestowing the image with a sense of structure. This ‘map’
is then brought to life by the artist’s nuanced palette, which effortlessly negotiates entire families of tones and micro-
tones to give rise to vistas that are at once restrained and emotionally charged.
Vasudeo S. Gaitonde’s radiant painting from 1995, Untitled maintains a
delicate balance of light, texture, colour and space, imbuing his work with a
unique lyricism and luminosity. For the artist the physical act of painting his
canvases was meticulous and precise, and it was the formulation of the
concept, the incubation and propagation of the painting as an idea in his own
consciousness that absorbed his attention and time. With its virtually
imperceptible gradations of gold and ochre pigments with blue highlights, and
its enigmatic hieroglyphic forms that seem to spontaneously emerge from and
disappear under the glimmering surface, this canvas provokes new discoveries
with each viewing. This painting was one of the last completed in Gaitonde's
small barsaati or terrace studio in Nizamuddin, before he moved to Gurgaon
in 1996, and features prominently in the only film made on the artist, Art on
Art, in 1995. It is offered with an estimate of INR 12,00,00,000-15,00,00,000.
Gaitonde was not a prolific painter, completing only five or six deeply
considered canvases a year.
Since his early years as an artist, Tyeb Mehta has used the canvas to express
images that illustrate the struggles of contemporary society, and to reflect his
own disillusionment with the world around him. Executed in 1981, Untitled
(Two Figures) maintains remnants of the diagonal line that marked Mehta’s
paintings of the 1970s. However, here the figures are allowed to exist in their
entirety, without the transversal split that allowed them to adopt different
forms on each side of the diagonal, giving Mehta the flexibility to explore
different means of representation in a single painting. While the segmentation
of the canvas is still evident in the background, it has become less obtrusive,
demonstrating a maturing of the artist’s style. This important work in the
artist’s oeuvre is offered with an estimate of INR 5,00,00,000-7,00,00,000.
At the heart of the miniature paintings
selection within the Classical Art sale is a
group that comes directly from the ancestral
collections of the Maharajas of Bikaner. Very
well preserved by the dry desert air, these
are a reminder of how cosmopolitan Bikaner
was in its heyday. Not only does the group
include typical elegant depictions of Krishna
and palace life, but also two paintings that
clearly illustrate the direct influence of
Golconda (present day Hyderabad) in the
Deccan. The group also contains two fanciful
depictions of Europeans that relate closely
to those painted on the ceilings of the Phool
Mahal in the Fort of Bikaner (estimates range from INR 2,00,000-12,00,000). Due to their age, none of the works in
this section of the sale may be exported from India. Other paintings in this section include a charming Golconda-style
painting of Two Courtly Ladies by Bihari and painted around 1700 (estimate: INR 5,00,000-7,00,000), there is also a
double portrait of Sultan Muhammad ‘-Adil Shah of Bijapur with his Minister Ikhlas Khan, this time dated 1748/1691
AD (estimate: INR 6,00,000-8,00,000) and a fine equestrian portrait of Maharaja Kumar Sri Rai Singh as a young prince
by the artist Abu Hamid, again from Bikaner and this time dated VS 1811/1754 AD and estimated at INR 4,00,000-
6,00,000.
One of the most important works of art offered in the classical section of the sale is a buff
sandstone figure of the dancing Ganesha, the lovable and mischievous elephant-headed
deity. The theme of the dancing Ganesha captivated the sculptors of Central India,
resulting in the production of some of the liveliest
examples between the 8th and 11th centuries. This
Ganesha, from Madhya Pradesh in the 10th century, is
carved with voluptuous form as well as a sense of
joyful elegance and agility. This signature piece of the
sale is amongst the finest of its type (estimate: INR
60,00,000-70,00,000 illustrated right). The sculpture
section also contains a magnificent life-size early Chola
granite figure of dvarapala formerly in the collection of
the award-winning bharata natyam dancer Yamini
Krishnamuthi, who’s devotion to art, dance and philosophy are well-known
(estimate: INR 1,20,00,000-1,20,00,000). An elegant bronze figure of Parvati, a
Chola-period statue made in Tamil Nadu in the 12th century, will also be among the
key pieces with an estimate of INR20,00,000-25,00,000 (illustrated next page).
This extended sale offering commemorates the 20th anniversary of Christie’s presence in India. By including classical
art in Christie’s third India Sale, the company will lend its international standards to this burgeoning domestic market.
PRESS CONTACT:
Alexandra Kindermann |Zurich | + 41 79 101 4196 | [email protected]
About Christie’s and Indian Art:
2015 marks the 20th consecutive year of Christie’s selling South Asian Modern and Contemporary art
Christie’s has a presence in India since 1994
Christie’s are the only international auctioneers to hold sales regularly in India
The Indian Art specialist team is based in Mumbai, New York and London
Christie’s holds the record for the most expensive Modern Indian work of art sold at auction: Francis Newton Souza’s Birth sold for $4,085,000 in September 2015
In the September 2015 South Asian Modern + Contemporary sale in New York, 44% of lots were either sold or directly underbid by collectors on the internet.
Christie’s hold the world auction records for works by Francis Newton Souza, Vasudeo S. Gaitonde, Tyeb Mehta, Syed Haider Raza, Maqbool Fida Husain and many other artists
The 2014 auction in Mumbai was 97% sold
In 2015, Christie’s will include Classical Art in its annual India Sale.
EXHIBITIONS NEW DELHI – AT THE TAJ MAHAL HOTEL MUMBAI – AT THE TAJ MAHAL PALACE HOTEL Number One Mansingh Road Saturday 12 December – 10.00am to 6.00pm Saturday 28 November – 10.00am to 6.00pm Sunday 13 December – 10.00am to 8.00pm Sunday 29 November – 10.00am to 8.00pm Monday 14 December – 10.00am to 8.00pm Monday 30 November – 10.00am to 4.00pm Tuesday 15 December – 10.00am to 12.00pm AUCTION IN MUMBAI AT THE TAJ MAHAL PALACE HOTEL Tuesday 15 December at 7.00pm About Christie’s Christie’s, the world's leading art business, had global auction and private sales in the first half of 2015 that totalled £2 .9 billion / $4.5 billion. In 2014, Christie’s had global auction and private sales that totalled £5.1 billion/$8.4 billion, making it the highest annual total in Christie’s history. Christie’s is a name and place that speaks of extraordinary art, unparalleled service and expertise, as well as international glamour. Founded in 1766 by James Christie, Christie's has since conducted the greatest and most celebrated auctions through the centuries providing a popular showcase for the unique and the beautiful. Christie’s offers around 450 auctions annually in over 80 categories, including all areas of fine and decorative arts, jewellery, photographs, collectibles, wine, and more. Prices range from $200 to over $100 million. Christie's also has a long and successful history conducting private sales for its clients in all categories, with emphasis on Post-War & Contemporary, Impressionist & Modern, Old Masters and Jewellery. Christie’s has a global presence with 54 offices in 32 countries and 12 salerooms around the world including in London, New York, Paris, Geneva, Milan, Amsterdam, Dubai, Zürich, Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Mumbai. More recently, Christie’s has led the market with expanded initiatives in growth markets such as Russia, China, India and the United Arab Emirates, with successful sales and exhibitions in Beijing, Mumbai and Dubai.
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