By IANS,
London : Works of Francis Newton Souza and Tyeb Mehta were the highlights of the Christie’s sale of contemporary Indian art here, which also included works from Tina Ambani’s Mumbai-based Harmony Art Foundation.
Souza’s 1955 work “Birth” sold for 1,273,250 pounds ($2.5 million) as against an estimate of 600,000-800,000 pounds while Mehta’s 1984 untitled (Figure on Rickshaw) went for 982,050 pounds as against an estimate of 300,000-500,000 pounds.
Five of Subodh Gupta’s works were sold at Wednesday’s sale. His 2007 untitled work went for 601,250 pounds. His “Bucket” was sold for 121,250, “Magic Wands” for 169,250 pounds and “Cotton Wicks for 15,000 pounds.
T.V. Santosh’s two works were also interestingly rated. While an untitled went for 145,250 pounds, his “Peace Protest” went for an appreciable 20,000 pounds. A further key work was Rameshwar Broota’s 1980 “Havaldar-III”, which sold for 337,250 pounds.
Other strong modern works at the sale included Maqbool Fida Husain’s 1970 untitled work and 1969 “Gandhi – Man of Peace”. However, five out of the nine Husains went unsold or were withdrawn. Addressing another aspect of contemporary society, Ravinder Reddy’s sculpture “Head” also did not find a buyer.
Syed Haider Raza’s 1965-1966 “Rajput House” sold for 97,250 pounds. Riyas Komu’s “Dog in the Bush” went for 22,500 pounds.
The sale of 112 lots, of which a few were withdrawn or left unsold, was expected to realise in the excess of 3.7 million pounds but garnered 5.4 million pounds, including the buyer’s premium.