Two Tyeb Mehta works fetch Rs6 crore

Though not compiled by economists, the numbers still indicate that the US economy is looking up. The week of Indian art auctions, which ended on Thursday afternoon in New York, has seen record prices for many “blockbuster” artworks by modern Indian masters.

Christie’s International Plc and Sotheby’s  brought in about $55.7 million combined from their Asia Week sales of Chinese vases, jade carvings and Indian paintings.

The sales exceeded their top forecast of $41.3 million. Last week, smaller auctioneer SaffronArt brought in $3.7 million from a fall sale of Indian modern and contemporary art, a little over its $3.4 million forecast.

Sotheby’s Indian art auction on Thursday offered 87 lots and fetched $3.74 million, smashing pre-sale estimates of $2.5 million to $3.5 million.

Tyeb Mehta, who died two months ago, had a stellar run in the New York auctions. On Wednesday, Christie’s sold the artist’s powder-blue portrait, Two Figures, for $926,500 (Rs4.4 crore), well above the reserve price. On Thursday, Sotheby’s sold Mehta’s 1976 oil on canvas And Behind Me Desolation for $350,500 (Rs1.6 crore).

A lot of the bidding was done over the phone and most of the strong bids of more than $100,000 came from private collectors who run hedge funds or run their own businesses in India and abroad.

“The results confirm the growing confidence in the Indian market. We saw international bidding and buying, predominantly from private collectors, with a rejuvenated presence from our trade clients,” Zara Porter-Hill, Sotheby’s Head of Indian and Southeast Asian Art, told DNA. 

“We are delighted to have sold over 70% of our lots today [Thursday], continuing the improvement we have achieved in our sold-by-lot percentages throughout this year in New York and London. This high sell-through rate is a testament to our balanced selection of quality works at competitive estimates and demonstrates that the market is underpinned by a broad collector base,” added Zara Porter-Hill.

VS Gaitonde’s red and black canvas, Untitled, sold for $602,500 in the Sotheby’s auction, soaring past the high estimate. After visiting New York in 1964 when he was exposed to American post-war art, Gaitonde began to use a roller and palette knife instead of a brush and his paintings like Untitled are constructed with intricate layers of colour and texture.

Gaitonde’s contemporary MF Husain also fared well at the auction. At least six of his works surpassed presale valuations and one of Husain’s 1960s horses from a Canadian collector, Bewildered Brown, sold for $338,500.

Investing in Indian art has proved as profitable as the stock market — or more so. Prices for modern Indian art tripled across the board in 2006 before a shakeout in 2007. Last year’s hottest bargain was Souza’s Amsterdam Landscape, which raised $1.2 million at Sotheby’s in London, indicating wealthy buyers weren’t deterred by a drop in the global stock markets.