DOING ART’S BIDDING
FROM ZOOM TO BLOCKCHAIN, AUCTION HOUSES ARE RELYING ON TECHNOLOGY TO MEET A NEW DEMAND FOR ART
The pandemic works in strange ways. While travel restrictions led to a collective despondency, it also whetted the global elite’s appetite for art. The rich want to add to their already-brimming collections. The world’s major auctions houses—Christie’s and Sotheby’s included—have surprisingly performed well during lockdown. The wealthy in Asia, in particular, have snapped up costly acquisitions.
In India, Prinseps recently recorded a 90 per cent sale at its Modern Art auction. The lots included a rare Prabhakar Barwe, Bhupen Khakkar, Manjit Bawa and an M.F. Husain from 1950. Conducted over Zoom—bids were also accepted via phone calls—the auction was over in less than two hours.
“Fair warning. Going once, twice. And that’s sold!” the auctioneer announced at the end of every lot (43 in all), before thundering down the customary gavel. A relative newcomer in the Indian art auction scene, Prinseps was founded in 2017 with an aim to promote research. “Frankly, I would rather carry out research than sell. That’s our USP,” says founder Indrajit Chatterjee. To support his claim, he points to the meticulous scholarship that accompanied M.F. Husain’s King of Hearts, a work that fetched Rs 56.25 lakh at the auction.
On July 13, Amrita Sher-Gil’s In the Ladies’ Enclosure, 1938, auctioned at Saffronart’s Summer Live Auction, for Rs 37.8 crore, became the second-most expensive work of Indian art to have been sold globally. With by-appointment viewings available in its gallery spaces in Mumbai, Delhi and London, the summer’s biggest auction seemed to open a recovery route for an art market still reeling under the pandemic’s impact. Minal Vazirani, Saffronart’s cofounder and president, says, “We have conducted triple the number of auctions between April 2020 to April 2021, as compared to the preceding year. The number of lots sold in 2020 was nearly double the number sold in 2019.” After the sharp drop in sales between 2020 and 2021, these are numbers the art world will take hope from.
The pandemic also pushed Saffronart to return to their origins: “collaboration, information, transparency and access, no matter where you are,” says Vazirani. “Our main auctions have also been modified to a hybrid model that includes a live auction, with the auctioneer and essential personnel in the room and bidders joining in virtually, and an online auction, taking place
on our website over a 24-hour period.” For others like AstaGuru, fresh off the success of its modern art auction in March, online was always the way forward. Its vice-president of client relations, Sneha Gautam, says, “We have been operating solely digitally since our inception in 2008”, adding that it is both easier and cheaper. “Bidders are equally comfortable placing high value bids online and find the module safe and convenient.”
In the future, Prinseps’ Chatterjee predicts, blockchain-enabled NFT (nonfungible token) auctions will gain in popularity. In the west, it was hailed as the next big thing after the little-known artist Beeple sold an NFT for $69 million at Christie’s on March 11. Prinseps’ upcoming auction includes an NFT auction of artist Gobardhan Ash’s works. “The idea of a physical painting has changed,” Chatterjee says. “Digital art is not new but the blockchain opens a new way of certifying the owner and facilitating an easy transfer. Therefore, the NFT itself can be thought of both as an asset and art.” ■
—Shaikh Ayaz