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What’s at Stake in Christie’s First Auction in India

December 18, 2013 by Marion Maneker

A visitor walks past a painting of Tyeb Mehta's Mahisasura during a preview of Christie's first art auction in India

Christie’s is down-playing the stakes for tomorrow’s sale of Indian Modern and Contemporary art in Mumbai but local observers are see the event as a potential turning point for the market. Here’s commentary for an Indian gallery owner:

The questions on everybody’s minds are, “Will this auction herald an improvement in the sale of Indian art and improved prices? Will it open up the market for international buyers and can we expect this auction to lead to a season of improved prices”? These questions are being asked for a very good reason, since over the years, it has been established that Indian art fares far better abroad than in India. So much so that a leading art gallery owner ruefully stated, that art sales in India have reached rock-bottom stages and many are resorting to auctioning the works of important artists abroad, to keep their businesses going.

Christie’s CEO Steven Murphy would prefer to keep the scope of this sale small bore, according to Bloomberg:

“The objective for Christie’s is to be on the ground,” Murphy said. “The sold total for this week’s sale is not the most important thing by any means.”

The sale is seen as an important bellwether of the health of the local art market, which went into steep decline after the Lehman Brothers collapse in 2008, said Girish Shahane, a Mumbai-based curator and art critic.

“Everybody who bought got their fingers burned, and a couple of art investment funds had trouble paying back investors,” he said. “A lot is riding on this sale. It’s really a marker of whether the market can move forward.”

The Financial Times offers some important historical perspective:

Christie’s is not the first to test India’s market for its own art. In 1992, rival auction house Sotheby’s held an Indian art sale in New Delhi, and sold works worth £1.2m – a hefty sum at the time. But the auction faced stiff bureaucratic resistance, while then still strict foreign currency restrictions hindered profit repatriation. Subsequent auctions of Indian art by Sotheby’s – like Christie’s – have all been abroad.

The newspaper also spoke to a few old India art hands:

But Suhel Seth, a brand adviser and art collector, said some wealthy Indians may hesitate to participate in an auction at home, amid the pervasive gloom over India’s faltering growth. “Given the economic mood of the country, a lot of people may not want to be seen in public bidding,” he says. […]

Mr Seth expresses scepticism, saying art is seen as elite preoccupation in a society still struggling to deliver basic services like education and clean water. “Companies won’t want to be seen splurging on things considered elitist,” he says.

Art consultant Javed Abdulla, who organised Sotheby’s 1992 sale, says India would need years to develop a genuinely informed, and committed art collector base that might also support public access to the arts.

“The bulk of buying is driven by people who feel they have arrived,” he said. “They have a big house, a German car and they feel they have got to have a contemporary Indian master. It’s a symbol of their status, and a cipher for their wealth.”

Christie’s India auction to rekindle nation’s art scene? (MyDigitalFC)

Christie’s Expands With First India Art Auction in Mumbai (Bloomberg)

Christie’s takes maiden Indian art auction to Mumbai (Financial Times)

Bonhams Asia Week Results

March 21, 2012 by Marion Maneker

March 19

Indian, Himalayan and Southeast Asian

Sale total $3,203,225

91.67% sold by lot

*Auction world record achieved for Indian artist Bagta “Rawat Gokal Das celebrating holi in the zenana” sold for $302,500 (pre-sale estimate $30,000 – 50,000)

March 20

Fine Chinese Snuff Bottles

Sale total $1,022,900

98.25% sold by lot

Fine Japanese Works of Art

Sale total $1,485,188

74.92% sold by lot

Sotheby's Indian & SE Asian Works of Art = $9.2m

March 24, 2011 by Marion Maneker

An Honest Voice in Indian Art

September 24, 2010 by Marion Maneker

Forbes India has this priceless interview with Bijay J. Anand of Kyozan Arts:

Who makes most money in art?
Artists. Husain would make more than the auction houses who make more than the dealers.
How much? Husain has a Ferrari, a Lamborghini, a Rolls Royce, a Jaguar (two methinks) and a Bugatti Veyron. Go figure.

How does an art curator earn a living?
By wearing “arty” clothes with designer labels. And by putting together shows that only their family members and dear exasperated friends go for. The wine and cheese is meant to be an incentive but nobody tells the curators that the wine tastes like acid and the cheese tastes like rubber/salt/yuck.

Which are the most promising schools of art to follow, from an investment perspective?
The Progressives. And other artists who are usually in the same age group.

Why do Indian art prices lag behind global levels?
Because a Picasso, Miro, Rothko or Mondigliani is coveted by billionaires from Russia, China, the US, UK. And Lesotho, Sudan, Mongolia as well as the Fiji islands. Whereas most Indian billionaires don’t own any art at all and neither do they want any.Continue Reading

Cautious India

July 20, 2010 by Marion Maneker

The Economic Times warns that the supposed recovery in the art market has come too quickly to correct profligate and irrational behavior among collectors:

Consider that it was only a year ago that even works by the beloved Progressive Modernists were available for a steal at auction ; consider that the majority of Contemporary artists who were thought desirable when the going was good, are a tough sell today in both primary and secondary markets ; consider that there has been no trickle down effect to emerging art forms. A topheavy market may generate headlines, but it doesn’t speak for 99% of the market, which still needs its own adrenaline shot.

Semantics merely holds symbolic, not real, value. As much as the auction houses claim that collectors are buying and speculators are out; the truth is everyone, no matter what their net worth or disposable income levels, is buying to invest. Today, the art that sells has to be of the investible worthiness of real estate and gold to summon up buyer excitement . While that’s good news for Traditional and Modern art, which is finally getting its due, it doesn’t bode well for present and future art practitioners for whom the support infrastructure has contracted considerably .Continue Reading

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