A SUMMER SALES
Saffron Art summer auction offers a stunning array of Modern and Contemporary art, especially from the Gunvant Mangaldas collection, besides others
One of the earliest collectors of Indian modern art, Gunvant Mangaldas was an Ahmedabad-based businessman and textile heir. Along with his wife Urmila, the two were well-known patrons of the arts. They had a particular taste for the Progressive Artist Group (PAG) and their associates. The Saffron Art summer auction (July 13-14) comprises their collection that is being auctioned alongside other collections.
The PAG, as most who have even glimpsed Indian art history know, consisted of F N Souza and M F Husain, S H Raza, K H Ara, S Bakre and H A Gade. Their close associates were Akbar Padamsee, Krishen Khanna, Prafulla Dahanukar, Ram Kumar, and Tyeb Mehta. Prominent on the cover of the Saffronart summer auction catalogue is an abstract work by artist V.S Gaitonde (1924-2001). He was a recluse, of Goan descent, but lived in Mumbai. He was also known to have been an associate of the PAG and he did join forces with them during his youth. As a result of his exclusivity, historicity, important posthumous exhibitions and rarity of works, Gaitonde’s auction records are currently the highest among the Progressives.
Gaitonde has set a world record for modern Indian art when his abstract landscape fetched ₹ 23.7 crore (USD 3.7 million) at Christie’s first auction in India, which raised over ₹ 96 crores doubling pre-sale estimates.
Predictably his is the highest opening bid for the Mangaldas section: The Untitled, V.S Gaitonde, is valued at an opening bid of Rs 20,00,00,000 ($ 2,816,905) for the abstract oil on canvas dated 1961, at 50×40 inches. The PAG is known to have embraced European Modernism, both figuration and abstraction, that was the most distinctive influence on the group, but its members worked in dramatically different styles that often drew from indigenous art; whether it was the Expressionism of Souza or the ‘pure abstraction’ of V S Gaitonde.
One of the gems featured in the physical auction, which is slightly different from the online auction, both of which are happening back-to-back, is a work by Amrita Sher Gil taken from her transitory period, where she was moving from her Parisian European style to incorporating the Indian Miniatures. Titled, In the Ladies’ Enclosure, (1938, Oil on canvas, 21.5 x 31.5 inches) and is priced at a princely Rs 40,00,00,000! The work is sourced from The Majithia Family Collection, through Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi.
To quote from the book by Yashodhara Dalmia, titled Amrita Sher-Gil: A Life, published in New Delhi, 2006: “…She went on to spearhead the path of modernity in Indian art by imbuing her work with aspects of both Western and Eastern traditions. When she made the famous statement ‘Europe belongs to Picasso, Matisse and many others, India belongs only to me’ she did not realize that she had in fact entered the terrain where she would bridge the gap between widely divergent and yet interdependent systems and that in carving this path, she would be showing the way for generations of artists.” (Penguin, 2006, p. xiii).
The auction also has other high opening bids from various private collections other than the Mangaldas collection. Notably they are S H Raza at Rs 1,80,00,000 for a rate work sourced from the artists own private collection titled Naissance de la Mer, dated 1998, oil on canvas. It is a beautiful blue and black rendition of the Bindu and the Nada, recurring themes that the artist followed. F N Souza’s Untitled, a 1950’s nude at Rs 35,00,000 and a 1984 Odalisque at Rs 45,00,000 respectively. Then there is M F Husain’s Maheshasura Mardini, (undated) at Rs 20,00,000.
The Mangaldas’ home, called Vihan, was designed by many famed architects including Pritzker Prize winner B V Doshi. It was known for holding soirees attended by the PAG and their associates. One famed event was an evening hosted for American architect Louis Kahn from the US, and attended by the likes of Tyeb Mehta, S H Raza and his French wife Janine Mongillat.
There were also more intimate meetings held between M F Husain and architect B V Doshi, as the two sat and planned the Amdavad Ni Gufa which was an underground museum as a tribute to the city designed by the artist and the architect. Sadly, Vihan has been demolished and sold off to a builder recently. It has however been well-documented by the architect’s grand-daughter, Khushnu Panthaki-Hoof.
Also notable at the Saffron Art auction is a work by Satish Gujral, an Untitled (undated) wood and mixed media sculpture, at Rs 35,00,000. K G Subramanyan at Rs 7,00,000. With a rare B Prabha at Rs 12,78,000 for her 1962 Untitled oil on canvas.
The auction also has two prominent sections by Bengal Master Somnath Hore, with Rs 10,00,000 from gallery Espace and Galerie 88 respectively. Another notable Bengal School heavyweight is Jamini Roy at Rs 20,00,000. The two living artists on auction are Krishen Khanna at Rs 12,00,000, and Laxman Shreshtha also at Rs 12,00,000.
The auction has a special section for Jangir Singh Shyam (1962-2001) an indigenous Gond artist who rose to fame under the mentorship of artist J Swaminathan. Shyam travelled and showed both locally and internationally and is known for pioneering a new school of Indian art called Jangarh Kalam. His work has been exhibited widely the world over including Bhopal, Delhi, Tokyo and New York.
The Saffron Art Auction offers a selection from Swaminathan’s collection priced at Rs 5,68,000 for his gouache on paper.
The contemporary section of women artists is led by British-Bangladeshi artist, Rana Begum whose mixed media work is priced at Rs 24,00,000 followed up by works by Zarina Hashmi at Rs 15,00,000 a set of 30 odd works on gold leaf, collage work. Artist Jayashree Chakravarty is priced at Rs 10,65,000 and Nalini Malani, priced at Rs 10,00,000 respectively. Leading the contemporary men’s section is Subodh Gupta’s painting priced at Rs 56,80,000 for an oil on canvas titled Round the Corner, dated 2004. Followed by Baiju Parthan and Jagannath Panda at Rs 15,00,000 with an early work by Jitish Kallat at 14,20,000. It is quite a rich and varied selection.
Stay tuned in to see how the auction pans out and if any new records are set this summer by Saffron Art, India’s leading online portal for Modern and Contemporary art.
Text by Georgina Maddox
Image Courtesy: Saffronart
Find more about Saffron Art Auction and Artworks:
https://www.saffronart.com/auctions/summer-live-auction-2021-4409
