Art Market Monitor

Global Coverage ~ Unique Analysis

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

Big Buyer of Indian Contemporary Art

January 26, 2011 by Marion Maneker

Kishore Singh has an article on the relative merits of some Indian museums as the country builds its art infrastructure. But in the process of discussing the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, he reveals that some of the most significant Indian Contemporary Art works that were bought at auction in recent years have all ended up in this same collection:

There is no gainsaying that KNMA is about the “biggest”, or “best” or “most expensive” with reference to modern art. You can speculate whether the Rs 16.4 crore it paid for the S H Raza painting, Saurashtra was worth it or not, whether Raqib Shaw’s Absence of God-VIII was more expensive or less, whether Bharti Kher’s most expensive work, The Skin Speaks a Language Not its Own deserved the Rs 6.5 crore. But its in-the-face brazenness in acquiring works that are iconic, or talked about, or at the very least large, has at least made it a talking point — whether among collectors or the hundreds (and hopefully, soon, thousands) of visitors daily who come in out of curiosity but are awe-struck by the kind of art they have not previously seen.

Size Does Matter (Business Standard)

More from Art Market Monitor

  • Christie’s Offering Hopper’s Two Puritans for $20-30mChristie’s Offering Hopper’s Two Puritans for $20-30m
  • Chinese Buyers Back Out of 40% of £1m+ SalesChinese Buyers Back Out of 40% of £1m+ Sales
  • Feds Impound $100m in Indian Antiquities from Suspected Smuggling DealerFeds Impound $100m in Indian Antiquities from Suspected Smuggling Dealer
  • Boiled Down to NineBoiled Down to Nine
  • Sex, Drama and ArchitectureSex, Drama and Architecture
  • India's Flight to Quality ArtIndia's Flight to Quality Art

Filed Under: Collectors

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

  • Keith Haring’s 1989 Retrospect Comes to Sotheby’s London Prints Sale
  • Lost Lempicka Discovered at Sotheby's
  • $10 M. Picasso Portrait Unseen for Decades to Sell at Bonhams
  • Vienna Secession Painting, Long Thought to Be Lost, Sets a Record at Auction
  • Four of Picasso's Women Valued at $28m Come to Christie's from Rose-Walters Collection
  • Collection of Texas Heiress Anne Marion Expected to Fetch $150 M. at Sotheby’s
  • Roy Lichtenstein’s Top Ten Auction Prices
  • Tony Podesta's Secret Art Buying
  • Selection Bias In Art Is What Creates Value
  • Norman Rockwell's Not Gay. But Is He a Great Artist?
  • 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