Canvas by Manjit Bawa sells for record Rs1.7crore at Saffronart auction

An untitled canvas by Manjit Bawa sold for Rs1.7 crore at a recent online auction which apart from creating a world record for the late artist has also indicated a return of confidence in the Indian art market.
 
At its winter 2009 auction leading domestic auctioneer Saffronart grossed a total of 20 crores by selling 78 of the 100 lots made available for bidding with 62 per cent of the works exceeded their pre-sale estimates.

"A world record price in auction was achieved for artist Manjit Bawa’s ‘Untitled’ canvas at Rs1.7 crore against an upper estimate of Rs90 lakh," reported the auction house.

In his canvass of epic proportions Bawa relies on chiaroscuro and subtle shading to deliver depth. His technique of focusing on perfecting the form  by paring it down to its basic essence gives his paintings an arresting luminosity.

Along with Bawa,  other modernists like FN Souza, SH Raza, Akbar Padamsee, Tyeb Mehta and Jagdish Swaminathan led the sale with top prices."... this is one of the most successful sales of 2009 and continues the upward trajectory of the Indian art market.

With an average realized lot price of over Rs 25 lakh as compared to Rs10.5 lakh in March 2009, these results demonstrate that the market sentiment has improved significantly in the last few months," says Dinesh Vazirani, CEO and co-founder of Saffronart.

At the same auction, MF Husain’s ‘Untitled’ work went for Rs1.4 crore against an estimated upper price of Rs83 lakh. Also, Subodh Gupta's untitled work created in 2005 led the sales among contemporary artists by fetching Rs1.2 crore against an upper estimate of Rs90 lakh.

FN Souza’s ‘Profile of a Woman’ went for Rs99.2 lakh - upper estimate of Rs27.6 lakh and S H Raza’s ‘Temple’ went under the hammer for Rs 83.3 lakh. It was estimated to fetch Rs 27.6 lakh lakh. Works by Akbar Padamsee, Tyeb Mehta and Jagdish Swaminathan also attracted healthy bidding .

"Since March 2009, our auctions have shown a trend of robust growth in sales, indicating that the market is on a steady recovery path,” says Vazirani.