Yet another auction house, Triveda, is to hold its first auction in the Grand Ballroom of the Grand Hotel at Vasant Kunj in Delhi on 25 October. There are 144 lots up for sale. The range is wide indeed, from anonymous Bengal art to young artists like Om Pal Sansanwal, Rahul Arya, Indrevir and Jitish Kallat. The range covers the art of the last century, both colonial and modern as well as new arrivals of this century.
Colonial art is not our concern. It has only period and antique value. While it is true the international auction houses lump it together with our genuine contemporary art, figures show it is definitely not as good an investment as the contemporary art of our national movement. So, our concern is with only those works that are worth investing in and not with works of historical or other importance.
Among the works worth investing in, those of Jamini Roy (1887-1972), an oil an canvas of a Santhal woman and boy (108.5 cm X 44.5 cm) expected to fetch between Rs 20 lakh to Rs 30 lakh is well worth the price. Commissioned by a Kolkata family in the ?20s, it is both thematically and stylistically a precursor of what became Indian contemporary art later. Of the later development of this artist, there are three lots: Gopini, an excellent gouache on cloth of the ?40s, similar to the one in Chester and Davida Heriwitz? collection (lot 22) 52.5 cm X65 cm, that is expected to sell at between Rs 12 to 15 lakh. Then there is a gouache on card of Hanuman paying his respects to Sita (lot 23) and tribal drummers (lot 24). All these are works worth investing in.
A similar work, depicting Santhal dancers, a black chalk and water-colour on paper, 24.5 cm X 36 cm (lot 21) by Nandalal Bose (1882-1966) is worth it between Rs 10 lakh to Rs 15 lakh. Then there is Gaganendranath Tagore?s (1867-1938) Hall and Stairs in grey wash on paper (lot 29)) 29.5 cm X 20 cm, expected to fetch between Rs 10 lakh and Rs 15 lakh. This is a significant work of his in his prismatic style, which synchronised with European cubism but our original contribution to breaking up the representational image and creating the non-representational landscape of future artists like V S Gaitonde, S H Raza and Ram Kumar.
In fact, the auction does have works of all three. There is a paper work of Gaitonde (lot 74), a Raza oil on canvas (lot 104) and a Ram Kumar oil on canvas landscape that appears to be of the late ?60s, 101 cm X 76 cm, that is expected to sell at between Rs 1.1 crore and Rs 1.3 crore. It is an excellent work of an important period of his life and ought to sell well. Other important works include an oil an canvas of J Swaminathan(1929-1994) with his bird, mountain and tree series (lot 87), 125 cm X 174 cm. It ought to command a good price.
I do not expect the bidding to go beyond the reasonable as the auctioneers say clearly that Triveda on their own behalf give no guarantee either of the seller?s title to a work or of accuracy of description. But if a property is proved to be a forgery within three months of the sale under certain conditions, then it is possible to get one?s money back. So it would be worth the buyer?s while to check on each work carefully, with experts if possible. The buyer must also read the terms and conditions of the auction carefully. This will help in ensuring confident bidding and will also save one from regretting the step in future.