The price for a work by an Indian artist has gone up a notch. Francis Newton Souza?s Birth (1955) sold for a record $2,487,931 (around Rs 10 crore) at a sale of South Asian modern & contemporary art at Christie?s London.
The earlier record was also established at a Christie?s sale, in New York in March, when Maqbool Fida Husain?s Battle of Ganga and Jamuna: Mahabharata 12 (1972) went for $1,609,000.
?The sale total of $10,614,225 setting a new world auction record for any Indian modern and contemporary work of art with 12 artists? records, demonstrates the exciting growth of this market and that London is a key platform for the category,? Hugo Weihe, international director of Asian art at Christie?s, told FE.
He also foresaw a further escalation of prices for top works of Indian masters.
?The market is very well informed, and Indian art is being picked up not just in Europe and North America, but also in Asia, as our Hong Kong sale demonstrated,? he added. The auction house does not disclose the identity of buyers.
The sale presented global clients with an array of works by over 50 of South Asia?s leading modern and contemporary artists. Christie?s spring 2008 sales?New York, Hong Kong and London?totalled $25,825,146, the highest ever overall for one season of South Asian modern & contemporary art.
?Birth is a painting of exceptional quality,? says Arun Vadehra of New Delhi?s Vadehra Galleries, explaining that for masters Husain, Raza, Tyeb Mehta or Souza, the $5-million price barrier was definitely within reach if an exceptional painting came onto the market.
Christie?s, which has had a wonderful year so far with Indian and Asian art, anticipates further highs when Syed Haider Raza?s key work, La Terre, goes under the hammer at its London Post-War & Contemporary Art Evening sale on June 30.