‘Middle market of art key revenue area for us’
Indian clients are spending more on art auctions these days, so it’s “a good time for us”, says EDWARD GIBBS, chairman for Middle East and India at auction house Sotheby’s. Gibbs, who advises private, corporate and institutional collectors worldwide and is a specialist in the art of Imperial India, talks to Pavan Lall about the company’s first auction in India in 20 years, what collectors look for now, and where fresh opportunities lie. Edited excerpts:
You are two months away from your first India auction (November 29) in more than 20 years.
This auction comes on the back of opening of our office at the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel in 2016. At the moment, we are looking at between 40 and 50 works and could go up to 60, but will be no more than that. It’s an evening sale, so it will be
tightly curated.
What’s the highlight of the evening?
It’s a work by Tyeb Mehta from 1943 of the Goddess Durga killing Mahisasura, the buffalo demon. It is in nationalistic colors blue, white green and saffron, where the goddess represents Mother India suppressing evil dark forces, and is estimated to have a starting bid between $3 million and $4 million, potentially making it a world record for the artist.
Your first event comes at a time when Christie’s has decided to stop sales here five years after it said there was potential in this market?
We don’ t base our strategy on what we see other auction houses are going through.
But we do see our Indian clients who have been participating in global sales have doubled in the last five years and the number participating online has risen by 900 per cent. So we see Indian clients are engaging more and spending more, so it’s a good time for us. The timing is right for us.
Last year in New York, JeanMichel Basquiat’s Untitled sold for $110 million, whereas at the prices that feature in India for the auction, the entire lot size will net no more than $10 million. Why does that still excite you?
Yes, it’s small if you look at global figures. But it’s still significant because it represents the middle market of art buying, which is defined as works priced between $100,000 and $ 1 million. That’s an important area for revenue and is also a stepping stone for us to growth. Indian art is on a journey to greater international recognition.
How are you curating the lot for your auction and what is going to be different about it?
We are clearly targeting a younger audience and there is going to be something for all tastes and budgets, with prices starting at a couple of thousand dollars and going up to a few million dollars. While there will be a range of works that include the usual suspects such as Tyeb Mehta and Raza, there will also be what we think is the ‘cooler’ stuff such as JRD Tata-commissioned posters created by Nargis Wadia for Air India.
Where is growth going to come from in new areas of art?
Company school of art to miniatures to pre-modern art. Collectors are only now waking up to great pre-modern works of art, and I’d define that as prewar, which is from the 1920s and backwards. Artefacts from great courts such as the imperial courts as well as the ones in Rajasthan are where we see potential, and at very affordable prices, relatively speaking.
There’s a growing concern about the proliferation of fake art in the Indian market that is being retailed through some legitimate channels. How do you tackle that?
It’s actually quite easy to track, depending on what the age of the painting. Our Scientific Research Department led by scientist James Martin deploys state-of-the-art technical and scientific methods, which include technical imaging, magnified visual inspection, elemental analysis, and molecular analysis. Of course, we don't analyse every single work unless required, but the capability is there.