Raza, Husain, Souza top grossers in online art auction

NEW DELHI - Early contemporary masters stormed back to the art auction market this week, steering the top-of-the chain price trends at the two-day Saffronart’s autumn online auction that made Rs.29 crore ($6.4 million).

While artist S.H. Raza’s “Bharatiya Samaroh” sold for Rs.4.07 crore ($905,000), competitive bidding saw Jogen Chowdhury’s “Couple 1- Man and Woman” rake Rs.1.60 crore ($354,583). Master of figurative drawing F.N. Souza’s “Last Howl from the Cross” sold for Rs.1.55 crore ($345,000) and an untitled work by M.H. Husain fetched the auction house Rs.1.29 crore ($287,500), a statement issued by the auction house in Mumbai said Monday.

Leading contemporary artist Subodh Gupta’s untitled work sold for Rs.1.22 crore ($271,400) while G. Ravinder Reddy’s iconic sculpture of a woman’s head saw intense competition, crossing the Rs.1 crore mark closing at Rs.1.15 crore ($256,197).

The art works on sale included those by Akbar Padamsee, Subodh Gupta, Manjit Bawa and Jehangir Sabavala.

A composition, “Icarus” by Sabavala was picked up by a private collector for Rs.1.6 crore ($354,583). One of his earlier work. “Casuarina Line 1″ had set a new world record for Rs.1.16 crore ($258,762).

Speaking about the success of the auction, Dinesh Vazirani, CEO and co-founder of Saffronart said: “The sale saw strong prices achieved across the board as well as sustained bidding from serious and mature collectors. This is a very positive message for the market. The art market continues to show strength.”