On the evening of March 23, Christie's "South Asian Modern + Contemporary Art Presents the Mahinder and Sharad Tucker Collection" in New York was officially raised.
This auction presents the unique and diverse artistic practices of south Asia and is the most valuable auction of modern and contemporary art in South Asia in recent years. This auction is held in conjunction with online auctions to meet the strong demand of the global market.
In the end, with the blessing of collectors around the world, 77 masterpieces of art were sold for a total of US$20,188,926 (about 128.6 million yuan), with a turnover rate of 96%, 7 lots of more than one million US dollars were sold, and 56% of the lots were sold at an overvalued price. Manjit Bawa, Guran Muhammad Sheikh, Buben Haqel, Apita Singh, Kattingri Krishna Hebal and many others set new personal auction records.
Auction site of Christie's "South Asian Modern + Contemporary Art Collections of Mahinder and Salad Tucker" at Christie's new York
With the active participation of new private collectors and art institutions, the South Asian modern and contemporary art market is in full swing. Many younger generations of Collectors from the Americas and South Asia continue to enter the market, and new auction records have been set in recent years.
Many important South Asian artists have been included in the permanent collections of prominent Western art institutions and exhibited their works, such as the Indian abstract painter Vassudio Gaydonde, who was exhibited at MoMA in New York. Gaitonde) and Bhupen Khakhar, an Indian painter favored by the Art Institute of Chicago. Although the South Asian modern and contemporary art market is still in a small state, this Asian Art Week in New York has given us a glimpse of the potential of the "South Asian Modern and Contemporary Art Market".
The highest deal ISP 3
Leading the auction was Indian painter Bhupen Khakhar (1934-2003) 'S banyan trees ' $ 2.46 million . The market for Buben's work has risen steadily over the past 5 years, especially since 2016, when London's Tate Modern hosted its iconic retrospective, Buben Hacker: You Can't Please Everyone. "Banyan Tree" started at $1.2 million that night, and after 11 bids, it fell for $2 million and sold for $2.46 million with a commission, winning the first place in the competition and setting the third highest price in the artist's personal auction.
In this work, Buben skillfully balances the relationship between public and private, openness and intimacy. The artist redesigns a traditional gathering point in Indian towns and villages as a safe space in which he is ultimately free to gather together to commemorate all his past lovers, both real and imagined.
Buben Haqel, "The Banyan Tree"
Estimate: $1,800,000 –2,500,000 USD
Price realised: 2,460,000 USD
The third highest price in the artist's individual auction
Christie's New York, March 23, 2022
India's finest abstract painter, Vasudeo S. Gaitonde (1924-2001), won the second highest price for $2.34 million. Gaytonde is the holder of the Indian art auction record (in 2015, his oil painting Untitled sold for $4.4 million), and he was actively involved in the Progressive Artists Group (PAG). His creation was a bold change in the history of Indian art. However, Gaytonde was not a prolific painter, completing only five or six thoughtful paintings a year. For him, the incubation and spread of painting as an idea in his own consciousness attracted his attention and time. That night, "Untitled" started at $1.2 million, and after bidding, it dropped the hammer for $1.9 million and sold for $2.34 million.
Vassudio Gaytone de Untitled
Estimate: 2,000,000 – 3,000,000 USD
Price realised: 2,340,000 USD
Francis Newton Souza (1924-2002) still life sold for $2.16 million as the third highest price in the market. Created in 1958, the work is a masterpiece in Suza's "Black Painting". The artist depicts the altar where the vessels are placed from an aerial perspective, and he flaunts the brightness that can be achieved even on a simple black surface that shimmers with the ultramarine and orange reflections of the vessels. This treatment of thick black pigments was an important prelude to an important set of "black paintings" created by Suzza a few years later. That night, the game started at $400,000, and after 27 bids, it fell to the hammer for $1.75 million and sold for $2.16 million, which was 5.4 times the undervalued price.
Francis Newton Suzza, Still Life, 1958
Estimate: 400,000 – 600,000 USD
Price realised: 2,160,000 USD
A total of 14 of Suza's works were photographed in this scene, covering his works from different periods such as still lifes, landscapes, and figures. In particular, a collection of exquisite paintings by Suza was acquired from Peter Jackson's collection, acquired in the 1960s and held in private collections in Britain for more than half a century. In the end, the total sales of 14 works exceeded 5.288 million US dollars, accounting for 26% of the total sales of the auction, far exceeding the total estimate of 1.618 million to 2.449 million US dollars before the auction, which shows its strong market appeal. Among them, Suza's work "Untitled (Reclining Naked Woman)" can be described as the dark horse of this auction, the work started at $65,000, which attracted fierce bidding from collectors, and after 37 bids between you and me, it fell for $430,000 and sold with a commission of $541,800, which is 7.7 times the undervalued price.
Francis Newton, Suzza, The Mad Prophet of New York
Estimate: 300,000 – 500,000 USD
Price realised: 1,033,200 USD
Francis Newton Suzza, Untitled (Reclining Naked Woman)
Estimate: 70,000 – USD 90,000
Price realised: 541,800 USD
The South Asian modern and contemporary art sector as a whole rose
In addition, it is worth mentioning that artists such as Guran Mohammed Sheikh, Manjit Bawa, Said Heyd Heidel Raza, Apita Singh, Katingri Krishna Hebal and other artists have performed well and set new personal auctions. Among them, Gulammohammed Sheikh (b. 1937), a commemorative oil painting that has not been seen in public in 30 years, "How Do You Sleep Tonight?" The auction started at $240,000, setting a new record for the artist's individual auction, and finally after nearly 20 minutes of incentive bidding, it finally fell to the hammer for $1.65 million, plus commission at $2.04 million, which was 8 times the most valuable price, which greatly refreshed the artist's auction record and won the fourth highest price in the field.
Guran Muhammad Sheikh, "How Do You Sleep Tonight?" 》
Estimate: 250,000 – 350,000 USD
Price realised: 2,040,000 USD (new record)
Manjit Bawa (1941-2008) was one of south Asia's most popular artists and one of the first Indian painters to break the mainstream of grey and brown paintings. The style and subject matter of his work reflect the influence of the Indian classical art tradition. He used simplified, uncluttered expressions, suspending his stylized figures against a rich background of single jewel-like colors, reducing them to basic, almost platonic forms. Untitled depicts a tantalizing reality: the peaceful lives of gods, men, and beasts in a magical empire. Bawa condenses his form onto specific images, leaving the rest of the narrative to the suggestive and the viewer's imagination. That night, "Untitled" started with $450,000, attracting fierce bidding from collectors, and soon reached the highest estimate of $800,000, after 16 bids, the work fell for 880,000 yuan, plus a commission of $1.1088 million, setting a new artist's personal auction record.
Mangit Bawa," Untitled (Devi), 1993
Estimate: 600,000 –800,000 USD
Price realised: 1,108,800 USD (new record)
Manjit Bawa,Untitled (Krishna Fruting), 1995
Estimate: 18,000 – 25,000 USD
Price realised: 113,400 USD
Sayed Haider Raza's work has always been inspired by landscape and nature and ultimately forms a complete trajectory from realism to subjective abstraction. In This film, Practy (Origin of the Universe), the artist pushes this non-figurative language to the limit, combining sequences of colors and shapes into a giant grid-like composition that depicts the universe in geometric shapes to contemplate the origin of the universe or the origin of nature. In the end, the game was sold at an undervalued price of 2.5 times 1.0332 million US dollars, and the results were gratifying.
Said Haider Raza
Practy (Origin of the Universe)
Estimate: 400,000 –600,000 USD
One of India's most respected modern artists, Arpita Singh, b. 1937's Flower Picker was one of his most important works, selling that night for $819,000, twice as much as the artist's second-highest price at auction; Kattingeri Krishna Hebbar's 1911-1996 Untitled Construction Sold for $126,000 at an undervalued price of 4.2 times, it set the third highest price for the artist's personal auction.
Apita Singh's Flower Picker, 1994
Estimate: 400,000 - 600,000 USD
Price realised: 819,000 USD
The second highest price for individual artists
Katingerli Krishna Hébal, Untitled (Construction)
Estimate: 30,000 – 50,000 USD
Realized price: 126,000 USD
Other high-priced lots
Ram Kumar "Untitled"
Estimate: 200,000-300,000 USD
Price realised: 567,000 USD
Jahangi Sabawala, "The Quiet Ambush"
Estimate: 280,000 - 350,000 USD
Price realised: 529,200 USD
Francis Newton Suzza, Untitled (Roman Landscape)
Estimate: 180,000 – 250,000 USD
Price realised: 428,400 USD
Markbul Feda Hussein's Untitled (Homage to the C.V. Raman Series)
Price realised: 403,200 USD
Jagdish Swaminatan, Decoding Texts II
Estimate: 120,000 – 180,000 USD
Price realised: 302,400 USD