Art Market Monitor

Global Coverage ~ Unique Analysis

  • AMMpro
  • AMM Fantasy Collecting Game
  • Podcast
  • Contact Us

Mehta Market Details

January 4, 2010 by Marion Maneker

Judd Tully, the Master, dials into Tyeb Mehta on ArtInfo.com, with these market details:

Over a career spanning almost six decades, Mehta created fewer than 500 paintings, says Vadehra, less than 10 a year. The figure would undoubtedly be higher if not for the artist’s exactitude and penchant for destroying his own works.

Popular taste took time to catch up with Mehta’s style. “When we were showing Tyeb, starting in the 1960s and through the early ’80s, my parents weren’t selling much of his work. The paintings were under a thousand rupees [about $500] in the ’60s,” says the Mumbai dealer Shireen Gandhy, of Gallery Chemould, which was founded in 1963 by Shireen’s father, Kekoo, considered the Leo Castelli of India. One young collector, the now-celebrated art patron Kanwaldeep Sahney, paid the gallery 800 rupees in eight installments for a work.

That has changed. Mehta’s market evolution is exemplified in the route traveled by his 1987 painting Drummer: In December 2001 at Saffronart in Mumbai, it sold for $36,000; when it returned to auction at Christie’s New York in March 2004, it made $101,575. “Tyeb is defined as being at the vanguard of creating those critical moments as an artist in the auction world,” says Minal Vazirani, cofounder and director of Saffronart. “The paintings have an incredible universality that really resonates, especially among people of Indian origin.” […]

So far, Mehta has exceeded the million-dollar mark 11 times at auction. This streak began in September 2005 at Christie’s New York when a 1997 Mahishasura (est. $600-800,000) sold for a record-smashing $1,584,000.

Tyeb Mehta (ArtInfo.com)

More from Art Market Monitor

  • Tyeb Record Leads Saffronart’s $11.38m Spring AuctionTyeb Record Leads Saffronart’s $11.38m Spring Auction
  • Tyeb Mehta Sets a Record at £2.74m ($3.5m) in LondonTyeb Mehta Sets a Record at £2.74m ($3.5m) in London
  • Indian Art Bought for $75k in 90s, Yields $2.3mIndian Art Bought for $75k in 90s, Yields $2.3m
  • Souza, Gaitonde Show Strong Gains Even in Still Weak Indian MarketSouza, Gaitonde Show Strong Gains Even in Still Weak Indian Market
  • Saffronart Makes a Top 10 Price for SH Raza in New Delhi Live AuctionSaffronart Makes a Top 10 Price for SH Raza in New Delhi Live Auction
  • Saffronart Live Sale = $5.8mSaffronart Live Sale = $5.8m

Filed Under: Artists Tagged With: Indian Modern, Tyeb Mehta

About Marion Maneker

Want to get Art Market Monitor‘s posts sent to you in our email? Sign up below by clicking on the Subscribe button.

Top Posts

  • A Season of Improvisation: Fall 2020 New York Modern and Contemporary Art Auction Analysis
  • Keith Haring’s 1989 Retrospect Comes to Sotheby’s London Prints Sale
  • Tony Podesta's Secret Art Buying
  • Four of Picasso's Women Valued at $28m Come to Christie's from Rose-Walters Collection
  • Login
  • Norman Rockwell's Not Gay. But Is He a Great Artist?
  • Aboudia, Zemba Luzamba, Dickens Otieno Anchor Contemporary African Art Sale at Artcurial in Marrakesh
  • Roy Lichtenstein’s Top Ten Auction Prices
  • Selection Bias In Art Is What Creates Value
  • Re-discovered John Constable Painting at Sotheby's in December
  • About Us/ Contact
  • Podcast
  • AMMpro
  • Newsletter
  • FAQ

twitterfacebooksoundcloud
Privacy Policy
Terms & Conditions
California Privacy Rights
Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Advertise on Art Market Monitor