The highly anticipated Christie’s annual auction of Indian art in India will be held at The Taj Mahal Palace hotel in Mumbai on December 15. The third annual sale will present a tightly curated selection of 100 works, comprising not just Modern and Contemporary art but in a first, also works of Classical arts, such as miniature paintings and stone sculptures, among others.However, the place of pride in this array of works, in terms of pre-auction estimates, belongs to canvases by two of the hottest names on the auction circuit - Vasudeo S. Gaitonde (1924-2001) and Syed Haider Raza (b. 1922). An untitled oil on canvas by Gaitonde, painted in 1995, is estimated to fetch $1,830,960 - $2,288,700 (approx. Rs 12 crore to Rs 15 crore). Similar is the pre-auction estimate of “Bindu,” 1983, acrylic on canvas that is expected to fetch $1,525,800-$2,288,700 (approx. Rs 10 crore to Rs 15 crore). An official release from Christie’s informs that Gaitonde’s canvas -- a gold-ochre abstract with touchings of turquoise -- was one of the last that he had completed in his small barsaati or terrace studio in Nizamuddin in central Delhi before moving to Gurgaon in 1996; it also appears in the only film ever made on him, “Art on Art,” in 1995. Raza’s “Bindu,” on the other hand, is an ongoing decades-old engagement in the life of the 93-year-old New Delhi-based artist, who spent six decades of his life in Paris. “Bindu,” a central concept of Hindu philosophy, represents ‘nothingness’ as expounded in the ancient Hindu texts called Upanishads -- that it’s nothingness from which all things are born and all things eventually dissolve into. “Bindu” is a seminal canvas in the artist’s career, indicating a shift in his style from expressionism to geometric abstraction. According to Christie’s, though “Bindu” is the principal around which the artist structures his canvas, it is less a graphical component and more the central point representing concentrated potential energy.A bright crimson acrylic on canvas, “Untitled (Two Figures)” by Tyeb Mehta (1925-2009) is another important canvas to watch out for. It is pegged $762,900-$1,068,060 (approx. Rs 5 crore to Rs 7 crore). Painted in 1981, it comes to the auction table from an important corporate collection. An important yet diminishing component of the canvas is the diagonal that marked Mehta’s paintings throughout 1970s. Though the diagonal still appears in the background of the canvas, segmenting it into compartments, it is less obtrusive compared to his works of the previous decade, indicating a maturing of the artist’s style. Another Raza acrylic on canvas, “Kundalini Pancha-Tatva,” painted in 2001, is expected to fetch $381,450-$534,030 (approx. Rs 2.5 crore - Rs 3.5 crore). It comes from the property of an important collector, who had acquired it directly from the artist. Other top highlights in the modern and contemporary art section include an oil on canvas, “Untitled (Krishna)” by Manjit Bawa (1941-2008) and “The Casuarina Line II,” an oil on canvas by Jehangir Sabavala (1922-2011).Bawa’s “Krishna” is a brilliant yellow canvas painted around 1990s. It is expected to fetch $381,450-$457,740 (approx. Rs 2.5 crore - Rs 3 crore). It comes to the auction table from the property of the late Professor Arthur Lim of Singapore. In 2003, it was exhibited at the National University of Singapore Museum, in an exhibition titled, “The Arthur Lim Benefaction: Twelve Important Paintings.” Sabavala’s oil on canvas, painted in 2002 was acquired directly from the artist by its present owner. It was exhibited in a very well-talked about retrospective on the artist held in Mumbai and Delhi by the National Gallery of Modern Art in 2005-2006, titled “Jehangir Sabavala, A Retrospective.” At the Christie’s auction, it is expected to fetch $183,096 - $274,644 (approx. Rs 1.2 crore - Rs 1.8 crore).In the classical arts section of the auction, the highlight is a group of miniature paintings from Bikaner, directly from the ancestral collections of the Maharajas of Bikaner. According to the auction house, the paintings (from the 17th-, 18th- and 19th centuries) are not just well-preserved in the dry desert air of Bikaner but also show how cosmopolitan the state was at its zenith. The group includes two rather quaint works on Europeans - “A European Jester” from 1798 AD and “A European Gentleman Smoking A Pipe,” from mid- to late 18th century. “A European Jester,” painted by Ahmad, is estimated at $1,831- $2,746 (approx. Rs 1.2 lakh - Rs 1.8 lakh) whereas “A European Gentleman Smoking A Pipe,” painted by Kalu, is expected to fetch $6,103 - $9,155 (approx. Rs 4 lakh - Rs 6 lakh). The most expensive lots in this section are, however, two miniatures, titled “Sultan Muhammad Adil Shah of Bijapur With His Master Ikhlas Khan,” and “A Beauty And Her Attendants On A Terrace At Dusk.” Both these paintings are expected to go for $9,155 - $12,206 (approx. Rs 6 lakh to Rs 8 lakh). It’s important to note that the art works in the classical section - paintings as well as sculpture are non-exportable from India given their status of ‘National Treasure.’Amongst the sculptures, a granite figure of a Dvarapala from Tamil Nadu, dating to 10th century, is the most expensive lot on offer. It is expected to fetch $183,096 - $274,644 (approx. Rs 1.2 crore - Rs 1.8 crore). Before 1977, it was part of the collection of late Miss Saraswathy, and by way of descent became the property of renowned Bharatanatyam and Kuchipudi dancer, Yamini Krishnamurthy (born 1940). It was next gifted and has been in a private collection since 2009. Another highlight is an important pink sandstone figure of Vishnu from Madhya Pradesh, dating to 10th century. Hailing from a royal collection of the Khajuraho region, this 133 cm tall figure is expected to go for $53,403 - $76,290 (approx. Rs 35 lakh - Rs 50 lakh). The sale also commemmorates Christie’s 20th anniversary in India and it is the third consecutive year that Credit Suisse is partnering with the auction house in India. - The India Sale will be held at The Taj Mahal Palace, Mumbai, on December 15, from 7 pmFollow@ARTINFOIndia
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