leading the sale are exemplary paintings by Akbar Padamsee and V S Gaitonde
Modern Indian art, with important works from the post-Independence years, when India’s leading artists created some of their best and most significant paintings, is the highlight of Saffronart’s evening sale, its biggest art auction of the year. It will take place in New Delhi on Thursday.
The auction features 87 lots valued at a total of Rs62-87.8 crore (USD 9.4- 13.3 million). leading the sale are exemplary paintings by Akbar Padamsee and V S Gaitonde. Padamsee’s Greek landscape (1960), an imagined cityscape painted in a palette of varying intensities of grey, attracted particular attention for its revolutionary approach and monumental scale, when it was first exhibited at the Jehangir Art Gallery. Padamsee garnered critical acclaim from leading art critics of the time, and found admiration among his contemporaries, including M F Husain and Krishen Khanna. One of only four largescale works from this seminal show and featured on the invitation card at the time, it is now entering the auction market for the first time ever. Greek landscape firmly established Padamsee as a master and now stands as an icon of Indian modernism. It is estimated at Rs7-9 crore (USD 1 - 1.3 million).
“Everything starts from silence. The silence of the brush. The silence of the canvas. The silence of the painting knife. The painter starts by absorbing all these silences.” Nowhere do V S Gaitonde’s words manifest more profoundly than in Untitled (1970), an oil on canvas painting that he created at a time when he had moved into his most lyrically abstract phase. Architect and friend of Gaitonde, Narendra Dengle once wrote that in works such as the lot on auction, “the entire work appeared like a dance of colours on canvas.” The top lot on auction, it is estimated at Rs10 -15 crore (USD 1.5 - 2.2 million).
Further highlights from the sale include paintings by S H Raza, K G Subramanyan, Nasreen Mohamedi, Gulammohammed Sheikh and Gaganendranath Tagore, among many others. For the first time, Saffronart is also offering worksby Sir Jacob Epstein, G M Solegaonkar, A A Raiba, Prodosh Dasgupta and Ila Pal, providing greater insights into the scope of Indian modernism as well as rare and unusual early works by the Masters.
Hugo Weihe, CEO of Saffronart, said, “We are proud to present an extraordinary and carefully curated collection of Modern Masters. It includes exceptional and rare masterpieces, but also sheds more light on the depth of talent during the golden period of modernism in India in the 50s and 60s, anchored around Padamsee’s Greek landscape of 1960. We have also put a particular emphasis on sourcing rare and unusual works that provide new insights and surprises. With the recent passing of S H Raza and K G Subramanyan, this catalogue is not least dedicated to them and their extraordinary achievements.”
The auction will be held at The leela Palace on Thursday at 7.30 pm.