Saffronart will introduce two back-to-back Spring Auctions – a Live Sale on March 26, 2019 and an Online Auction on March 27, 28, 2019, with more than 150 craftsmanships going under the mallet. The Spring Live Auction, will be the first run through in the history, that an expert sales management firm is selling works of art in the interest of the Legislature of India through the Tax Recovery Officer, Income Tax Department. Saffronart's Spring Online Auction will offer works by the most commended names in Modern & Contemporary Indian Art in its first online sale of the year.
Speaking on the bartering Dinesh Vazirani, Saffronart CEO and co-founder said, “We are incredibly ramped up for our line-up for the consecutive Spring Auctions. The choice and arrangement of Saffronart as the official barker for the benefit of the Tax Recovery Officer, Income Tax Department, Government of India, is a particular respect for us. This is the first run through an expert sales management firm has been selected for a closeout of this nature in India. The two closeouts have some extraordinary gems and are reciprocal to one another. We are hopeful about the result of these two back to back sell-offs.”
Untitled by Nalini Malani.
Spring Live Auction On Behalf of the Tax Recovery Officer, Central-3, Mumbai, Income Tax Office, Government of India (26 March 2019)
The Live Sale with 68 parts, will highlight works from both Indian and Chinese specialists. Driving the deal is an amazing Untitled, oil on canvas painted by VS Gaitonde in 1973.
In this 1973 painting, Gaitonde creates a deep, smouldering crimson surface, interspersed by dark horizontal bands that appear palpably dynamic. Two yellow orbs punctuate the painting in the middle, while a larger dark circle emerges from the lower half. Through this delicate balance between colour, space, light and texture in the present lot, Gaitonde conjures a deeply spiritual world that evoke associations of nature and philosophy.
Portrait by Atul Dodiya.
Another imperative feature of the sale is Raja Ravi Varma's Untitled, 1881, oil on canvas (parcel 13), an uncommon painting by the craftsman evaluated between Rs 12–18 crore ($1,714,290 - 2,571,430).
A rare oil painting by Raja Ravi Varma illustrates the welcoming party for the third Duke of Buckingham and Chandos, Richard Temple-Grenville, on his official visit to Trivandrum, the capital of Travancore, a princely state in Southern India, in 1880. Ravi Varma was invited to document this historical event and upon completion the present lot was gifted to the Duke as a token of appreciation. After his death, the painting passed on to his eldest daughter Baroness Kinloss. In the 1920s, it changed hands and became a part of Castle House, Buckingham, the offices of Buckinghamshire County Council, and remained there until 1974, when a private collector acquired it.
Akbar Padamsee’s, Dim Nude, 1960, (part 21) evaluated between Rs 1.5 - 2 crore ($ 214,290 - 285,715) is additionally part of the deal.
The closeout contains key works by famous contemporary craftsmen including Jitish Kallat, Rameshwar Broota, Atul Dodiya, Rekha Rodwittiya, Justin Ponmany and some more. Five works by Chinese craftsmen Wu Yi, Ge Guanzhong, Xu Lei, Miao Xiaochun and Chen Ke, going from shocking, nitty gritty contemporary ink attempts to sculptural computerised works of art likewise highlight in this deal. Conceived during the 1970s, they display a profound and nuanced learning of both Chinese and European workmanship history.
The Spring Online Auction will involve a remarkable accumulation of 89 parts. The index highlights essential works by specialists from the pre-freedom period to the present day with many having generally noteworthy provenance and broad presentation and production history. Driving the online closeout is an uncommon and fantastic diptych made with two isolated canvases titled Jaipur and Jodhpur by S H Raza (parcel 30), from the gathering of Kurt Erhart, evaluated between Rs 14 - 21 crore ($2,000,000 - 3,000,000). S H Raza’s Untitled (Venice), 1952, (parcel 13), which is an extraordinarily uncommon work, from the gathering of Mr and Mrs Sorovsky (Paris) is additionally part of the deal and is evaluated between Rs 1.05 -1.4 crore ($150,000 - 200,000).
Painted in 1952, two years after S H Raza had moved to Paris, the present lot reflects a brief but significant point in the artist’s career when he was departing from his earlier expressionist style toward a more Cubist approach. During his early years in France, Raza travelled to the southern countryside (where he would later settle down), as well as parts of Spain and Italy. The list includes works by a few contemporary specialists including Nalini Malani, Atul Dodiya, T V Santhosh, Zarina Hashmi, Sudarshan Shetty and some more. Figures by famous current and contemporary craftsmen including B Prabha, Akbar Padamsee, Himmat Shah, Prodosh Dasgupta, Sankho Chauduri.
