1st February, 2012
Works by Vincent van Gogh, Pablo Picasso, Marc Chagall, Salvador Dali and Henry Moore, all top selling international artists, figure in the first western art sale by India's biggest online auction house, Saffronart.
Vincent van Gogh's "Lane with two figures" a landscape painting done by the Dutch artist in 1885, five years before he died leads in the first ever auction of Impressionist and modern western art in India that feature a total of 73 works by 35 artists.
Priced between Rs 4 crores and Rs 5 crores, the van Gogh oil on canvas masterpiece laid down on panel and sourced from a private collection is the highlight of the auction which is estimated to rake in sales between Rs14.8 crore (USD 3.3 million) to Rs19.8 crore (USD4.2 million).
The auction is scheduled to be conducted online at the saffronart portal on February 15-16, 2012 with previews at the auction house's galleries in New Delhi and Mumbai and final sales happening in New York.
"Over the past 10 years there has been a growing awareness of the international art market among art collectors in India. The recent art fair here has been so impressive with western galleries like Hauser & Wirth participating for the first time. Indians have been travelling more and looking at art outside," says art expert Sophie Camu who is a consultant for the upcoming auction.
Currently, says Camu there are only very few Indian collectors who own a Picasso or a Rodin, with a bulk of Indians focussing on collecting Indian artists.
At the just concluded India art fair there was strong sales of Indian and international contemporary art with price range of individual works of art ranging from Rs 55,000 to over Rs 60 lakh with a strong presence of galleries from around the world showcasing global artists.
Artists featured in the auction are from the period 1860-1970 featuring the Impressionist movements from the 19th century and later art movements like surrealism, fauvism and pop art.
While the impressionists used vivid colours, thick application of paint, distinctive brush strokes, and real-life subject matter.
One work by the grand masters of Impressionism, Camile Pissarro has been estimated between Rs 1 crore and Rs 1.4 crore at the auction.
The provenance of the oil on canvas "The edge on Wood" signed and dated 1867 by the artist has been listed in the catalogue as Galerie Romanet in Paris and acquired by a private collection in Switzerland prior to 1960.
"We have seen an evolving interest by Indian collectors in western art in the last four to five years so decided to hold auction of western art. Indian collectors also seem to prefer names that they are familiar with. We feel it is an early trend and are optimistic about it," says Nish Bhutani COO, Saffronart. The auction house founded in 2000 has been focussing on modern and indian contemporary art works till now.
The upcoming auction includes several works by Pablo Picasso, including an oil painting titled Le Transformateur of 1953(estimated at Rs 2 crore- Rs 2.25 crore).
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