95 works of art by 52 Modern and Contemporary Indian artists with total lower and higher estimates of approximately Rs. 16.43 crores (US$ 3.42 million) and Rs. 21.70 crores (US$ 4.52 million) respectively
Auction highlights include important works by Akbar Padamsee, Subodh Gupta, Surendran Nair, S.H. Raza and Manjit Bawa
Works of historical significance and aesthetic quality offer an opportunity to both serious collectors as well as first-time buyers
Bangalore, September 02, 2009: Saffronart, India’s leading online auction house for Modern and Contemporary Indian Art, will host its annual Autumn Online Art Auction of Modern and Contemporary Indian Art on September 9-10, 2009. With a total of 95 lots, the sale includes artworks by 52 leading Modern and Contemporary Indian artists, and will take place online at www.saffronart.com.
The auction repertoire comprises a wide range of Modern and Contemporary Indian artworks by artists including Akbar Padamsee, Surendran Nair, Manjit Bawa, Ram Kumar, Subodh Gupta, S.H. Raza, Shibu Natesan, F.N. Souza and more. The lots on offer have been competitively priced with a view to match the expectations of a stabilizing art market. With a wide variety of works on offer, the catalogue appeals to both established collectors and first-time bidders.
Featured on the front cover of the catalogue, Akbar Padamsee’s monumental 1995 mirror-image is a mythical landscape, offering the artist’s meditations on time, space and the nature of existence. Presented in the format of a diptych, where each panel represents an inverted, relative version of the other, this work reflects the duality of perception and reality through form, texture and colour. Here, the artist contrasts hot and cool, land and sky, fire and ether, with a simple yet powerful palette of primary hues. In this remote no-man’s-land, the swirling blue clouds on one panel suddenly darken to brown on the other, casting profound shadows over the glowing fields of brimstone below them. Just as it belongs to no person, this landscape belongs to no time and to no place.
F.N. Souza’s ‘Old City Landscape’, from 1957, comes with an impressive provenance. This large painting was formerly in the New York collection of Harold Kovner, one of the artist’s most important patrons. Executed in shades of gray and blue, this desolate yet powerful work juxtaposes weight with lightness through an opposition of land and sky. Commenting, perhaps, on the dual nature of existence as he had experienced it over the last decade, the artist paints dark structures resembling grand cathedrals, set against an open expanse of dappled, powder-blue clouds. Like the buildings, the land is cold, grey and uninviting, barren save for two spindly trees standing sentinel on the path to the more distant church. The hints of red, blue and green in the doors and windows only serve to emphasize the disturbing nature of the scene, reminiscent of a town hastily abandoned by its inhabitants.
Among the contemporary lots on offer, Surendran Nair’s ‘Vertigo’ from his Cuckoonebulopolis suite of works, featured on the back cover of the catalogue, draws the viewer’s attention simultaneously to the idea and the impossibility of a life of isolation in contemporary social contexts. Literally with his head in the clouds, Nair’s half-man, half-swan protagonist perches atop the long column of a central, public monument. In an effort to escape the responsibilities social life, this hybrid creature has done exactly the opposite, presenting himself almost unavoidably to public scrutiny and consumption. It is this vulnerable state, somewhere between presence and absence, belonging and alienation, through which the artist emphasizes the fluid nature of identity and the sociopolitical forces that it is subject to, and often at risk of violence from.
Drawing from the canons of Pop Art and Photorealism, Subodh Gupta’s untitled 2006 canvas packed with gleaming kitchenware is theatrical both in its content and in its epic dimensions. In charting and presenting India’s unique developmental path, the artist creatively draws attention to the present interdigitation of tradition and modernity in the country, and the distinct social realities that emerge from this interface. In doing so, Gupta effectively communicates the impossibility of capturing the intricacies of the developing world through a developed-world-lens.
Speaking about the auction, Dinesh Vazirani, CEO and Co-founder of Saffronart said, “In our last online art auction, we saw a great resurgence in interest. 72% of the lots offered were sold, most above their high estimates, demonstrating renewed activity in the market. The enthusiastic bidding from discerning collectors as well as first-time buyers from across the world is encouraging. Keeping this trend in mind, we have made a conscious effort to source a wide range of modern and contemporary works that have great aesthetic quality and provenance for this auction catalogue.”
The total lower and higher estimates for this auction are Rs. 16.43 crores (US$ 3.42 million) and Rs. 21.70 crores (US$ 4.52 million) respectively. The sale will be accompanied by an illustrated print catalogue, also available online at www.saffronart.com, and preview events at Saffronart’s gallery spaces in Mumbai and New York.
With this auction Saffronart will debut a unique technological innovation – the Quick View auction catalogue. The new Quick View auction catalogue offers clients a convenient one-screen view of all the lots in the sale. This browsing option lets clients enlarge images on the fly, add lots to their personalized ‘My Auction’ page, view artwork details and zoom into high resolution images of each artwork. Using Quick View, clients may also search the auction catalogue by artist, sort and filter lots by price and print out a customized PDF catalogue of lots they are interested in.
About Saffronart
A global company with deep Indian roots, Saffronart was founded in 2000 on the strength of a private passion. Remaining committed to this passion and personal values, today Saffronart is a strong and successful international business that both embraces and drives change.
A pioneer of online art auctions, Saffronart has set global pricing benchmarks and transformed the landscape of Modern and Contemporary Indian Art, making it accessible to connoisseurs and collectors around the world. Its robust online auction platform and secure technology offers a personal, intuitive and effortless bidding and buying experience for clients.
With its online presence, and offices in Mumbai, New York and London, Saffronart has broadened and simplified access to Indian art and jewelry. Responding to the needs of today’s collectors, Saffronart also offers services such as art advisory, private sales, appraisals and valuations, and specialized art storage.
For further details on the auction, please contact:
India: Punya Nagpal, Nishad Avari or Dhanashree Waiker
Tel: (91 22) 2432 2898 / 2436 4113 or Email: [email protected]
USA: Anu Nanavati Chaddha
Tel: (212) 627 5006 or Email: [email protected]
UK: Abha Housego
Tel: 44 (0) 20 7409 7974 or Email: [email protected]
Media Contact: Malika Bhavnani, CMCG India Pvt. Ltd.
Tel: (91-22) 24450991/2/3, (91) 9820496099 or [email protected]
