Exposure makes Indian art prices

Tag : cotton wicks
The price curve of Indian art is shooting north in the globalmarket because of "increased consciousness" about it, say experts.
This has been brought about by greater visibility of art andartists from the country and easy access to relevant informationabout Indian art from the internet, they say.
"Indian art is becoming a part of international consciousness,which is why we have seen a spectacular growth in this field,"Yamini Mehta, director of modern and contemporary Indian art at theLondon-based Christie's, told IANS on e-mail.
"Boundaries are becoming more fluid. We are seeing more Indianartists being represented in international museum exhibitions andart fairs. The exposure is helping create newer collectors whoactively seek out works by the best of Indian artists to add totheir collections," Mehta said.
On June 11, a painting by F.N. Souza, an Indian artist who spentthe better part of his life in New York, sold for $2.5 million,while an untitled painting by Tyeb Mehta ( Figure in a Rickshaw ) fetched 982,050 pounds setting new price records at theChristie's auction in London.
Five of contemporary artist Subodh Gupta's works were also sold inthe same auction at record prices. Gupta's Bucket , an abstract canvas with the symbolic motif of his trademarkbucket, was sold for 121,250 pounds while his Magic Wands and Cotton Wicks were sold for 169,250 pounds and 15,000 pounds respectively.
Twelve artists set new records in terms of prices at the auction inLondon.
According to experts, Indian art in general had a higher priceprofile in almost every international art show this year.
A New Delhi-based dealer, Nature Morte, sold a set of threesculptures by Gupta for nearly $1 million, while a painting byrising star T.V. Santosh went out to a British collector for$170,000 at the prestigious Art Basel, the largest fair of modernand contemporary art in Switzerland. Gupta's seven-metre wide Triptych sold for $1 million in the same fair.
In March 2008, M.F. Husain's Battle of Ganga and Jamuna sold for $1.6 million in New York.
Auction houses and dealers attribute the boom to growingconsciousness and appreciation of Indian art internationally.
According to Mehta, the new breed of collectors, who are armed withmore money, are incredibly well informed. "They usually look for acombination of three factors in an art work - lineage, the artistand its freshness.
"For instance, the The Birth by F.N. Souza which sold for a record-breaking price of $2.5million, had the combination of all the three: it was a largemuseum quality masterpiece by one of the giants in Indian art andcompletely fresh to the market," Mehta said.
The freshness of the artwork, experts claimed, was instrumental inpushing up its price.
Peter Nagy, director of Nature Morte Gallery in Delhi, which soldalmost all its works at the Basel fair, says the increase in priceis directly related to the demand for the works and the increasedattention that the international art world is paying tocontemporary art works coming out of India today.
"This increased attention increases the demand and hence the pricesgo up," Nagy told IANS.
Citing Basel as an example, Nagy said the "audience in Switzerlandwanted unique Indian works and were not interested in works andprints by Indian artists. However, the prices of the works weredictated by the prices set in India".
Another factor that determines the price tag is the stiffneck-on-neck bids, especially at auctions, and the wide clientbase. The competition among bidders triggers an artificial increasein prices.
The phenomenon is also gradually becoming applicable to Indian art,especially in international sales.
Describing the nature of the Christie's London auction of Asianart, Mehta said the auction hall was packed right from thebeginning with clients from across the globe.
"There was also spirited bidding on telephones and throughChristie's LIVE, which is a new platform for our clients to watchthe live auction in real time and bid online from the comfort ofhome or office," Mehta said.
According to an estimate by the Christie's, the market for Indianart gathered steam over the last decade, totalling an impressive$42 million in 2006 from just $656,000 in a sale in 2000.
Before that, price milestones were generally one-time. In 2005,Tyeb Mehta's Mahisasura sold for a record $1,584,000.