26th Nov. 2002
Indian painters get
global platform
New Delhi,
Nov. 26. (UNI): With Indian paintings fetching record prices in the
international market, buying them as decorative pieces or to sell further
remain good investment options and online auctions now provide the widest
platform to the budding as well as veteran artists for putting up their
works.
Saffronart.com, a company that claims to be one of the most
comprehensive sources for Indian modern and contemporary art, is already a
part of the online auction bandwagon.
Its fourth
online winter auction from December 1 to four will allow art connoisseurs
the world over to choose from the compositions of leading modernists like
M F Hussain, Tyeb Mehta, Ram Kumar, F N Souza, S H Raza to contemporary
artists like Atul Dodiya, Jitish Kallat, Baiju Parthan and a host of
others.
A click of
mouse will decide the fate of hundreds of works of art that were previewed
here recently.
Just a few
days back, artist Raja Ravi Varma's "Yashoda and Krishna" was auctioned by
Bowrings for Rs 56 lakhs, a world record for the artist and an Indian
record for any painting. Its estimated price was Rs 30-40 lakhs.
Many cases
of Indian paintings being purchased at nominal prices and then resold
abroad years later at astronomical sums have been reported in the recent
past. This makes art a good investment!
Not
surprisingly, at the Saffronart auction, the highest price tag has been
attached to a Tyeb Mehta Untitled oil on canvas -- Rs 47.5 lakhs to 62.5
lakhs. The 150 X 175 cm piece depicts incomplete figures on a saffron
background, merging into each other, may be in search of completeness. The
bright colours, in extraordinary juxtaposition, serve to divide the canvas
into different areas yet, remaining a comprehensive whole.
Read more articles