Millions on the arty muse
The monetary value of works by modern Indian artists is nowhere near the likes of Pablo Picasso. Yet, the market has been on a steady rise over the past few years, with works by V.S. Gaitonde, F.N. Souza, S.H. Raza and Tyeb Mehta setting new records.
The most recent work to have done so has been by F.N. Souza, whose ‘Birth’ fetched an eye-popping $4.08 mn
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Anish Kapoor: Ranked at No. 11 on ArtPrice’s top 500 for the year 2013-14, Anish Kapoor is perhaps the only modern Indian artist whose works have competed toe-to-toe with works by legends such as Raza and Gaitonde. The ace British Indian sculptor’s works are as famous for being landmarks in cities like London as they are for fetching record-breaking prices at international auctions. His costliest work yet has been the famous Sky Mirror, which was valued for $1.5 million. At the time of its commissioning, the Sky Mirror was the costliest piece of public art funded by the National Lottery.
FN Souza’s Birth: Maverick painter Francis Newton Souza, popularly known as FN Souza, played a huge role in bringing attention to post-Independence Indian art in the West and also helped found the Progressive Artists Group in Bombay. So it wasn’t as surprising when his painting titled Birth recently trumped yet another maverick artist VS Gaitonde’s untitled work, to become the most expensive painting by an Indian art ever sold at $ 4.08 million, which is a good $300,000 more than its predecessor, which held the record for more than two years. The painting, which has had a history of fetching high prices was valued at $2.5 million in June 2008 and was sold recently at a Christie’s auction in New York.
Tyeb Mehta’s Mahisasura: Yet another artist of the same era, Tyeb Mehta’s Mahisasura is at the same time a critically-acclaimed masterpiece as well as one of the highest priced art works by an Indian. While the painting’s record price took a backseat as it was sold in the same inaugural Christie’s auction at Taj Mumbai as Gaitonde’s untitled work, it still remains one of the costliest works of art by an Indian to ever go for auction at a whopping $ 2.9 million. Tyeb Mehta was also a noted member of the same Progressive Artists Group of Bombay.
SH Raza’s Saurashtra: One of the country’s living legends in the field of art, S.H. Raza is an extremely esteemed name in not only Indian but also the global art market. His work Saurashtra, quite like the above mentioned works, was also the bearer of the costliest Indian painting until it was trumped by Gaitonde’s work in 2013. Raza’s Saurashtra sold at a dizzying $3.4 million in 2010 at an auction at Christie’s. While several of the painters works were made in France, the painter still maintains a very close tie with his home country, India.
V.S. Gaitonde: The previous bearer of the tag, ‘Costliest painting by an Indian artist,’ was also by one of the Progressive Artists Group of Bombay. Gaitonde’s untitled work fetched a whopping $3.7 million at Christie’s inaugural auction in India in 2013 and still serves as a benchmark in the rise of the Indian modern art market. An alumnus of the JJ School of Art, a number of other works by Gaitonde on abstract expressionism also feature in the lists of costliest Indian paintings.
M.F. Husain: One of India’s most celebrated and controversial artists, MF Husain is perhaps the only household name in public spheres among Indian artists. Hussain’s The Battle of Ganga and Jamuna: Mahabharata 12, which was sold at $1.6 million at a Christie’s auction a few years before his demise is the costliest work by the artists, while many of his other works such as Sprinkling Horses hover around the same price at $ 1.4 million. While Husain’s demise was expected to bring a rise in the value of his works, several of his best works have remained out of the market for a while now.