Contemporary India Art is on fire – fuelled largely by NRI (Non-Resident Indian) money. South Asian Modern + Contemporary Art Sale at Christie’s on 11 June 2008, realised £ 5.4 million – an all-time high for this genre. Francis Newton Souza’s 1955 work, ‘Birth’, fetched £1.27 million – a new world auction record for the artist and for any Indian Modern and Contemporary work of art. Known for his bold compositions, Souza is the only Indian artist to have a room dedicated to his works at Tate Britain. ‘Birth’ is a masterpiece by Francis Newton Souza, the founder of the Progressive Artists Group. This painting, composed in London during the mid-fifties, is his most important work to be auctioned. Property of a Private American Collection, it was submitted for the Guggenheim Painting Award in 1958. Souza, from Goa (India) died in 2002.

Tyeb Mehta’s 1984 Untitled (Figure on Rickshaw) was a close second at £ 982,000. The painting highlights the anonymity and isolation of the labourers – and Mehta’s own disillusionment with the world around him.

Both these paintings are museum quality masterpieces.

However, a name that appeared thrice in the list of Top 10 works at the Christie’s sale was none other than Subodh Gupta – whose works fetched close to £ 900,000 – collectively.

The top ten highest prices

- at Christie’s South Asian Modern and Contemporary Art Sale, 11 June 2008:

• Francis Newton Souza - Birth 1955 - US$2,487,931
  Tyeb Mehta - Figure on a Rickshaw 1984 - US$1,918,926
  Subodh Gupta - Untitled 2007 - US$1,174,842
  Rameshwar Broota - Havaldar - III 1980 - US$658,986
  Subodh Gupta - Magic Wands 2002 - US$330,714
  T.V. Santhosh - Untitled 2005 - US$283,818
  Subodh Gupta - Bucket 2007 - US$236,922
  Ashim Purkayastha - Attached Wings 2004 - US$213,474
  Justin Ponmany - Staple Agony - II (Plastic Memory) 2006 - US$213,474
  Syed Haider Raza - Rajput House 1965-66 - US$190,026

Read the entire story in the July - September 2008  print edition of

The South Asian Life & Times

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