Making a Mark at the Market

Uma Nair

Indian art seems to have bounced back well and proper no matter what the stock market says in New York.
This time,  Christie's and Sotheby's put up their sales over 3 days , the latter  split its Indian sale into two parts: 101 Lots on Sep 19 and 81 lots on Sep 21. The Christie's Indian sale, sandwiched between, with its South Asian Modern and Contemporary Art Sale Sep 20.
Collectors and dealers of Indian contemporary art  stated that the bids will be driven by demand focused on strong examples and perceived bargains. So prices zooming above estimates will be for superlative works and not for mediocrity.

Father by Atul Dodiya

Atul Dodiya's work presented at the Sotheby's-auction

Christie's  sale of South Asian Modern and  Contemporary Art realized $10.1 million, established 12 new world auction records and was led by Tyeb Mehta's Mahisasura, at $1.1 million.  This was a very healthy total and was indeed a clear measure of Christie's continued leadership in the field and reflects the market's appreciation for finely edited sales with choice works.

Dinesh Vazirani in a telephonic conversation from New York stated that the momentum at Christies was far better than at Sotheby's where the Gaitdonde did not sell. 

Back on Indian soil, Saffronart sales performed very well with both Atul Dodiya and Subodh Gupta crossing the Rs.10 million threshold. Dinesh Vazirani was relieved at the momentum that had gathered specifically with foreign bidders which changes the complexion of collectors.
 But dealers in New York say Indian art is nowhere in the legion of Chinese art. "Chinese art is really going gangbusters," said Joe-Hynn Yang, head of Sotheby's Chinese ceramics and works of art department in New York. "We've more than quadrupled our totals in four years."
Chinese antiques and paintings accounted for more than half of the $43 million in Asian art that Sotheby's sold during four auctions last September. Christie's held seven sales last year, including ceramics owned by the late philanthropist Evelyn Annenberg Hall, and grossed about $40 million.

New York's Asia-week auctions last September totalled a record $52.9 million. Prices for Asian contemporary art have tripled in the past three years, according to an index created by Art Asia Pacific, a contemporary Asian art magazine. There are now art funds focusing on Chinese works, and the number of contemporary galleries in China is growing exponentially. The Shanghai Art Fair is testimony to the growing demand and interest in Chinese and Asian art.

Both auction houses have in the past expanded their sales of contemporary and modern Indian art. Christie's New York and Sotheby's publish separate catalogues - the March sale this year had 166 lots, valued at up to $9.4 million. The Sotheby's sale also focused on modern and contemporary painting. That part of the sale was estimated to fetch as much as $9.1 million.

However the highlight of sales was the second part of Sotheby's sale that featured emerging artists:
Sotheby's second sale of Indian art entitled Contemporary Art South Asia: India and Pakistan brought in a rich harvest of $3,202,300 (pound 1,591,996). On top of the auction sales was India's Atul Dodiya who is known for creating several frames of reference within a canvas.

Interestingly, Dodiya's ‘Father’ was sold to a non-Indian, a Chinese private collector for $601,000 (pound 298,782) as against an estimate of $230,000 - $280,000. Renowned today for his watercolours, as well as his photo-realist oils, he first came to public attention with his series of hyper-realistic works that revealed his penchant for the popular imagery of India.

The auction Friday had an appreciable measure of sold by lot - 73.8 percent among the total number of 80 lots offered. According to Sotheby's it sold 92.1 percent by value and a number of world records were set at the auction by emerging artists.

Dodiya's second work at lot 56 was ‘Man From Kabul’, which was again sold to a Chinese private collector for an appreciable $313,000 (pound 155,605) as against an estimate of $100,000 - $150,000.

In 2005 and 2006 rising wealth in India has encouraged buyers to bid up prices as much as 20-25 fold for works by Francis Newton Souza, Syed Haider Raza and Tyeb Mehta. But the same collectors who bid furiously and fervently are now a discerning, savvy lot - they will pay premium prices for premium works. Collectors now are digging in their heels as the quality on offer falls and India's announcement of an increase in taxes on transactions is being seen as a dampener.
Last year's hottest bargain was Souza's "Amsterdam Landscape", which raised 624,000 pounds ($1.2 million) at Sotheby's Holdings Inc in London, indicating wealthy buyers weren't deterred by a drop in the Indian stock market.

The painting of bent Amsterdam houses, bought by a telephone bidder for almost eight times its top estimate, was the highest-priced lot in an auction of Indian art that raised 4.2 million pounds, beating its target by more than a third. India's Sensitive Index fell more than 10 percent on May 22, 2006, before rebounding.

According to auction sales and market analysis, the momentum of 2006 has somewhat reduced over the few months of 2007.But of course one couldn't say that the Sotheby's and Christie's sales were spectacular but the correction seems to have held its own. Thank god the slump seen in May is over.