By IANS
New York : M.F. Husain’s “Battle of Ganga and Jamuna: Mahabharata 12 (Lot 57)”, a painting from the Hindu epic executed in 1971-1972, fetched a whopping $1.6 million, setting a world record at Christie’s South Asian Modern and Contemporary Art sale Thursday, amid protests against the painter’s works.
Estimated at $600,000-800,000, the work was sold to an anonymous bidder for $1.6 million. Husain’s monumental work, a large diptych, was made in the apex of his career and is a part of a series of 27 paintings he began for the 11th Sao Paolo Biennial.
It beat the earlier record held by Tyeb Mehta’s “Mahisasura”, which sold for $1.58 million, also at Christie’s in New York in 2005.
“Battle of Ganga and Jamuna” depicts a scene of the ancient Hindu epic “Mahabharata”, detailing the cosmic civil war between forces of right and wrong.
At second slot was Lot 23, Ram Kumar’s figurative work from 1952, “The Vagabond”. Estimated at $400,000-600,000, it sold for a hefty $1.1 million, setting another world record for the artist.
This rare figurative work, made in 1956, portrays three isolated and forlorn figures, the mood emphasised by the dark and sombre pallet.
Third place belonged to Lot 43 – Tyeb Mehta. His untitled work from 1981 sold for $657,000. The work by the lauded master of Indian modernism was one of the sale highlights and was estimated at $600,000-800,000.
The painting depicts two female figures intermingled, demonstrating Mehta’s formal and psychological considerations. The two forms suggest the tangled figures of his later “Mahisasura” series.
Fourth and never to be forgotten was Lot 70 – Francis Newton Souza’s untitled work of 1961, estimated at $350,000-500,000, which sold for $385,000. Souza’s untitled nude is of spectacular size and a highlight among the dozen paintings by the artist offered in the sale.
Made in the artistic peak of Souza’s career, this work demonstrates why he was known as the “master of lines”. Souza’s paintings reflect his inventive interpretation of the human form, and like Gauguin, possess both a strong sexual aura and a sense of the primitive, the other and the unfamiliar.
Eighty-six-year-old Syed Haider Raza’s “Bindu Pancha Tatva” at Lot 10 took the fifth highest slot as it sold for $361,000 from an estimate of $300,000-500,000.
Of great excitement was the new name at slot 6 – of young Santhosh. His work, “Traces of an Ancient Error”, 2007, at Lot 27 flew from a humble estimate of $150,000-200,000 and sold for an admirable $337,000.
Santhosh is internationally known as one of the rising stars of the contemporary Indian art scene with several exhibitions to his credit. His works capitalise on the attributes of post-modernism, and often address the subjects of war, catastrophe and modern society.
At seventh position was Rameshwar Broota’s “Traces of Man – I”, 1995, estimated at $180,000-200,000 which sold for $265,000.
The much touted work by Atul Dodiya that Christie’s put on its cover for the catalogue second print run failed to attract the world record attention they sought.
Dodiya’s untitled 2004 work, estimated at $120,000-150,000, sold for $217,000. Sources feel that Dodiya’s market has reached a saturation point and hence failed to create the high frenzy of bidding. The sources also state that the market is correcting itself in a big way and the bull-run is slowing down.
Out of 125 Lots, 111 sold, putting the sale value at 87 percent of lots sold and fetching $10,974,600.
Even as the auction was going on at Christie’s in Manhattan, supporters of the Indian American Intellectual Forum and Hindu Janjagruti Samiti held a noisy demonstration outside.
They had earlier demanded withdrawal of Husain’s works from the auction, accusing him of depicting Hindu gods and goddesses in a “derogatory and vulgar” form.
The auction house went ahead, arguing that “art and culture embrace multiple interpretations and re-interpretations of religious and ethnic symbols that are often highly individual expressions”.