Mumbai to get sneak peek at evocative, rare paintings
This week, it visits Mumbai for the first time, and will be on display among 11 other paintings at a Christie’s exhibition.
Alongside Paysage, expect to see Raza’s fluid and evocative Le Lac (1964) and two early works by FN Souza – Winter Landscape (1956) depicting North London where he lived and worked in the 1950s and ’60s, and an untitled still life of flowers. The paintings are among 89 lots set to go under the hammer at Christie’s annual South Asian modern and contemporary art sale in New York in September.
The sale, estimated to fetch over $7 million, includes works by Tyeb Mehta, Akbar Padamsee, Manjit Bawa, MF Husain, VS Gaitonde and Nasreen Mohamedi.
“Many of these artists left India after Independence and moved to Europe and the US on grants. Some of the works they made during those times were bought by international collectors and have stayed out of the country,” says Sonal Singh, specialist and director at Christie’s India.
The top lots of the sale are on preview. So expect to see Mehta’s Diagonal XV (1975) featuring figures splintered by a lightning bolt-like line. And Bawa’s 7.4-ft-tall untitled WHAT Preview of Christie’s South Asian modern and contemporary art sale lots WHEN August 23 to 25, 11am to 6pm (Lecture on modern Indian art on August 23)
WHERE Christie’s office, Dhanraj Mahal, Apollo Bunder
painting of a circus acrobat floating above two horses. Also, Padamsee’s Rooftops (1959), which represents the artist’s progression towards eliminating colour from his work.