As expected, Gond artist Durga Bai’s contemporary tribal work, “River Narmada,” has come out tops at the end of the No-Reserve Folk & Tribal Art Auction held at www.storyltd.com on July 14-15. The most standout act in the catalogue, the fibreglass bust coated with Gond art motifs in acrylic and automotive paint, went for a winning bid of $2,400 (approx. Rs 1,51,200) against its pre-auction estimate of $1,590-$2,385 (approx. Rs 1,00,000-Rs 1,50,000).The highly contemporary work of art, which I earlier also referred to as a plausible cross between the much celebrated art of Ravinder Reddy and of Chintan Upadhyay, was expected to do well even before the auction had begun. Measuring 42.5 in X 39 in X 27 in, it’s an epitome of what the practioners of this genre of Indian art are capable of if given right, sustained support.It’s not a surprise, however, that such a work should come from the hands of Durga Bai, a Bhopal-based artist who belongs to the Gond Pradhan tribe who live in the interiors of the central Indian states of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. A gifted painter herself, Durga Bai was awarded the prestigious Bologna Ragazzi Award in Italy jointly with other Gond artists Ram Singh Urveti and Bhajju Shyam in 2008.Lot 44, an untitled set of five Kalighat paintings, was the next best performer. It overshot its pre-auction estimate of $795-$1,115 (Rs 50,000-Rs 70,000) by XX% to go for $1,980 (Rs 1,24, 740). The gouache on paper works depict five forms of Goddess Durga, four of whom are shown with their divine vehicles.The next best bid of $1,210 (Rs 76,260) went to lot 29, an untitled Chaksudan Pat, an art form of the Santhals, the tribe that lives across the states of Bengal and Jharkhand. It’s a set of two paintings made with natural pigment on paper, each measuring 12.5 in X 16 in.Banwari Lal Jangid’s untitled Pichhwai, fetched $1,020 (Rs 64,260). A work of stone color on cloth, this Pichhwai measures 37 in X 24.5 in. Pichhwai is an art form devoted to the intricate depiction of Lord Krishna and life around him and practised in the holy town of Nathdwara in the state of Rajasthan.An untitled Odisha Patachitra, from the eastern coastal state of Odisha, went for the next best price of $977 (Rs 61,560). Painted by one of the most well-known contemporary tribal artist in the genre, Rabindra Behera, it’s a set of two paintings made with natural pigments on handmade paper pasted on cloth, and measures 36 in X 59.5 in. Rabindra Behera, who showed a dedicate proclivity to painting in childhood, studied Patachitra style of painting under the famous artist Jagannath Mahapatra in the village of Raghurajpur, district Puri in Odisha.A cursory analysis of the folk and tribal art auction suggests that works from across India — from various regions in different corners of the country — have generous collectors. Follow @ARTINFOIndia
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