16th May 2006

Welcome to the crore club Jogen Chowdhury joins the swish set with his canvas going for Rs 1,45,36,520 at a recent auction

Joining the ranks of M F Husain, Tyeb Mehta, F N Souza, S H Raza and the most-recent Atul Dodiya, Jogen Chowdhury hits the crore mark. His oil on canvas Situation X was sold for Rs 1,45,36,520 at the Saffron Art online auction this summer. Both Dinesh Vazirani, director of Saffron Art and Chowdhury are ecstatic that the senior artist has finally entered the crore league.

While the auction prices are bound to have an impact on Chowdhury's gallery prices, the artist is happier about the prospects of Indian art getting its international recognition.

'While it's primarily the artist's job to concern one's self with aesthetics and not the market, it's nice when recognition comes along in monetary terms,' says Chowdhury, whose phone has been buzzing.

Another interesting feature of the summer auction is the new prices that paper works have managed to fetch. It was rare for a paper-work such as J Swaminathan's ink on paper to sell for Rs 16,08,200, and Padamsee's nude water-colour on paper to fetch Rs 10,16,950. Even Chowdhury's paper-works sold for as much as Rs 20,81,200.

While the scales still tip in favour of oils, the market is opening up to various media. With the number of oil-on-canvases shrinking due to the high demand, buyers are ready to pay a pretty sum for a paper work, even if it doesn't have the longevity and snob-value of the former.

'We have a whole mid-market range that has really shot up. In the last two auctions, our objective has been to widen the market by introducing new media and we are happy to say that five new buyers joined the online bid,' said Vazirani. Saffron seems to be breaking new ground in many areas with 13 paintings that sold for a crore. - Georgina Maddox

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