BACK TO THE ROOTS
In September, we invited Mumbai art collectors, buyers and experts to preview the 23 highlights from Sotheby’s sale of Modern and Contemporary South Asian Art that was held in London on October 25. Art is witnessing a steady growth with a current market of $250 million which is an increase of around 15 per cent over the past five years. Of this, $98 million is dedicated to contemporary art which constitutes an important part of all art collected. A lot of young people start collecting with contemporary artworks. And it’s heartening to see buyers in their twenties and mid-thirties. Taking art sales online has fuelled this interest among young buyers since they are more comfortable with the digital platform that offers ease, convenience and familiarity.
CLASSICAL INDIAN ART FINDS BUYERS
India has a vibrant art scene—the museums, galleries, foundations and an expanding client base. Interestingly, there is a renewed interest in Indian classical art. In 2011, a collection of classical Indian art was sold for $48 million and that proved to be a game changer. If you look at the history of Indian art, over the past 50 years, most collections of miniatures were outside India which are now coming back to India. In our collection for this October’s sale in London, we also have a seminal work by Bhupen Khakhar from the personal collection of Howard Hodgkin, the famous British painter and printmaker. He had this long love for India, would visit every year for 53 years and stay at the Taj Residences. He had one of the finest collections of Indian paintings and drawings. He and Khakhar were good friends; they painted for each other.
INTEREST IN OVERLOOKED ARTISTS
While the masters are always there, at Sotheby’s we look at artists with long careers who have been hitherto overlooked by the market. A prime example is Meera Mukherjee whose works are part of this collection. We also have a collection of 20 watercolour works by V. Dhurandhar who has painted beautiful scenes of the city of Mumbai in the 1900s. The Modernist period is of course, very popular. Works by M.F. Husain, S.H. Raza, V.S Gaitonde, F.N. Souza and Tyeb Mehta are must-haves for serious collectors. The younger buyers prefer to start with contemporary art before moving on to modern and then the classical.