The New York’s annual Asian Art Week will have Christie’s presenting over 40 works from The Visionary Collection of Mahinder and Sharad Tak, says Uma Nair
During New York’s annual Asian Art Week in March, Christie’s is presenting over 40 works from The Visionary Collection of Mahinder and Sharad Tak as part of the live auction. The highlights from the collection were on view at Christie’s London in February, followed by private viewing in Mumbai. All lots from the auction will be exhibited as part of Christie’s Asian Art Week preview in New York from March 18 to 22.
Preview in Mumbai
Sonal Singh, managing director, Christie’s India commented, “The collection this season is incredible and we look forward to welcoming back our collectors, art lovers and audience alike with an exhibition that epitomises the passion for collecting.”
Nishad Avari, head of sale, South Asian Modern + Contemporary Art, Christie’s, remarked, “Over the last 50 years, Mahinder and Sharad Tak have put together one of the most important collections of South Asian modern and contemporary art in North America. Apart from pioneering collectors, they are dedicated patrons of the arts and respected philanthropists. Highlights include major paintings by Bhupen Khakhar, Manjit Bawa, Arpita Singh and Sayed Haider Raza with impressive exhibition histories, appearing at auction for the first time. Also included are exceptional works by Maqbool Fida Husain, Rameshwar Broota, Jogen Chowdhury and Jagdish Swaminathan, all close friends of the collectors.”
Five stellar works
Amongst the works are a subtle and soft-hued VS Gaitonde, a brilliant Bhupen Khakar painting of Banyan Tree, a fascinating Still Life by FN Souza and a moody cityscape by Ram Kumar. The Gaitonde is an expression of a softly pealing bhajan or a raga that has a host of recurring tranquil phases that define its alaap. Gaitonde, the master of meditation, created his lingua franca in the works he painted. This work from 1970 priced at $2-3 million is bound to set heads turning at the sound of the gavel. The next masterpiece is a 1958 work by Ram Kumar considered to be Gaitonde's best friend. Moody and filled with embers of memory and experience and a resonant hint of houses and architecture tones this is a work that brings home the cerebral aesthetic of the artist.
Souza's Still Life of a Eucharist table, replete with all the symbols, is a study in cubist splendour. While Souza was not a believer the sacrament but its entire ritualistic ardour remained in his memory. As a child, Souza would attend Mass with his grandmother and had an epicurean eye in his habits of observation. The magnificence of this work is the mosaic background that has Byzantine echoes as well as the contours of the Eucharist elements that have been created with solid lines to create a spiritual echo. Bhupen Khakhar's Banyan Tree is a work that creates its choreography in character and charisma. Last, but not least, is Arpita Singh's Woman Plucking Flowers, a work that reflects the paradoxes of risks and dangers and a life that is far from pretty or beautiful because it is fraught with danger.
Over the decades, Mahinder and Sharad Tak have been showcasing India’s rich cultural heritage to their community of neighbours and friends in America, linking her past and present and building a strong foundation for the future. The scope and depth of the Tak Collection speak of the friendships that the duo has built with several artists and their longstanding investment in their South Asian heritage.