The focus is turning to contemporary Indian artists, with installation art getting a boost in world markets
The path-breaking Progressive Artists Group of Bombay is still the best attraction for Indian art worldwide and the celebrated masters linked to it — Vasudeo S. Gaitonde, Tyeb Mehta, Maqbool Fida Husain, Syed Haider Raza, Francis Newton Souza — command the best prices at auctions across the world.
Gaitonde’s abstract paintings have been consistently getting the top prices and this month his untitled abstract sold for almost double its pre-sale estimate in Mumbai for $4,415,887 ('29,30,25,000). Tyeb Mehta’s Untitled (Two Figures), sold for £1.18m ('11,94,25,000). A rare self-portrait of Amrita Sher-Gil, India’s foremost woman painter and a pioneer of modernism, was sold in London for £1.7 million.
The focus is also turning to contemporary Indian artists, with installation art getting a boost in world markets. Cutting-edge contemporary stars like Subodh Gupta, Jitish Kallat and Bharti Kher are commanding unheard of prices in the world ma-rkets and these and the ne-xt generation artists are the ones to look out for.
Kolkata-born Rina Banerjee, Gurgaon-based Jagannath Panda, powerful work on gender stereotypes by Chitra Ganesh using mostly Amar Chitra Katha comic books, artist couple Anju and Atul Dodiya, Shilpa Gupta and Ravinder Reddy have dedicated collectors across the world. A breakthrough in the Indian art sales globally could be expected from one of these artists next year.
