SOUTH ASIAN ART UNDER THE HAMMER
Christie’s South Asian Modern + Contemporary Art Auction, this 22nd September 2021, brings under the hammer works that are rare and haven’t been seen before in the auction market. The auction features masterpieces by artists like A. R. Chugtai, Bhupen Khakhar, F. N. Souza, Jahangir Sabawala, Jamini Roy, Rabindranath Tagore, and Sakti Burman naming a few.
A mystery and epiphany filled work by Jehangir Sabavala, titled The Embarkation, painted in 1965, belongs to a US based collector, Dorothy L. Clark.
“What is most striking about this particular Christie’s Auction, is that the South Asian Modern + Contemporary Art collection has been primarily sourced from private collections, with unique, never-seen-on-the-market-before artwork put up for auction, with fascinating stories behind it,” says Sonal Singh.
Take for example the story behind the painting titled Couple, by Nobel Prize in Literature Rabindranath Tagore. It is one of his largest paintings to ever be offered at auction. It was painted in circa 1930 and was one of a series of works which Tagore sold in Europe in order to fund his travels across the continent. This picture was acquired by Edith Andreae, (born Rathenau), whom Tagore had met on his first visit to Germany in 1921. The Rathneau family were esteemed in Germany; Edith was the daughter of Emil Rathenau, a leading figure in the early European electrical industry, and the sister of Walter Rathenau, the liberal thinker and foreign secretary during the Weimar Republic, who was tragically assassinated in 1922 just after Tagore’s first visit. A liberal intellectual, Edith was also a patron of the arts alongside her husband, and a great admirer of Tagore. The feeling was clearly mutual, as Tagore visited the Andreae family at their home in Berlin. Unfortunately, only a few years after Tagore’s 1930 visit, Hitler came to power in Germany and he was not able to meet the family again.
Another noteworthy work that Singh finds significant is a painting by Bhupen Khakhar. It features on the cover of the auction catalogue and it captures the artist’s unique approach to the Indian Miniatures. “I love the way Bhupen used to render his trees and the painting has this beautiful quiet energy that is most sensitive and calming,” says Singh.
The work is historically significant as well, because it was created after a trip to Rajasthan in 1967. It was the year that Khakhar moved in with his friend and fellow artist Gulammohammed Sheikh, who had just returned to Baroda from a brief stay in England. Along with sculptors Nagji Patel and Krishna Chhatpar they set up a studio at a space that the Royal Gaekwads lent them, Shiv Mahal. Besides helping with their taxes, Khakhar, an accountant by profession, was deeply interested in art and he had been painting along-side the likes of Sheikh, Patel and his other artist friends, using his own unique brand of Pop culture as his reference. However, it was on the trip to Bundi-Kota via Udaipur and Nathdwara to see the miniatures and other folk art that Khakhar was inspired to paint with a new Neo-miniaturist style that was quite refreshing and minimalist.
Singh also points out the rarity of the artworks by painter Sakti Burman; Last Supper by the Paris-based Bengali painter and A Clown from his early series. “ Getting Sakti’s early works has always been hard since people want to hold on to them, and while the clown is a recurring motif that he works with, inspired by Russian-French artist, Marc Chagall, the Last Supper is indeed rare,” says Singh.
The auction also features a very sensitively painted Jamini Roy, a portrait titled Seated Lady, dressed in a pink saree; two rare pointillist-inspired-works by N S Bendre and defining works by the minimalists Nasreen Mohamedi. It is a triptych that underscores the key philosophical principles around which Mohamedi structured her life and creative practice: the ephemerality of order and the persistence of chaos. These works may be thematically paired with the prints by artist Zarina Hashmi. House with Four Walls, (New York in 1991) the prints in this portfolio reflect Zarina’s understanding of space and proportion and her affinity for both poetry and geometry.
The two Moderns that stand out in the collection for Singh are F N Souza and Tyeb Mehta. Cardinal (1962) by Souza is a work ‘worth looking at’ because, as it captures and comments upon Souza’s internal struggle with his Catholic upbringing and his critique of religion. It also underlines his influence by artists like El Greco. We are told Souza’s use of oil and pastels recalls the chalky painterly Greco’s finish of several of his paintings.
This tongue in cheek work may be contrasted with the bare ‘sincerity’ of artist Tyeb Mehta’s work that belongs to his 1960s series created when he moved to London with his wife Sakina and worked in a morgue by day so that he could paint by night. The works are muted, monochromatic and executed mainly with a palette knife. Markedly different from what he later came to be known by his brightly coloured canvases where the paint is applied in a flattened manner. The frailty of the human condition however persists as an overarching theme in Mehta’s work. The work on auction is titled Figure, Mehta combines browns and bronzes with orange, embodying the work with a vibrant luminosity.
Last of all the auction closes with A R Chugtai the ‘Modern Master’ who lived between pre-Partition India and Pakistan. He was known for his narrative style that captured work ranging from Buddhist stories and Hindu epics to Islamic history. In this 1950’s painting he captures Krishna instructing Arjuna before the epic battle of the Mahabharata. Chughtai depicts the legendary archer Arjuna, one of the five pandava brothers and the hero of the Mahabharata preparing for battle with a segment of his own family. The work is epic as it captures Chugtai’s secular approach.
Viewing is by appointment only, starting 17 September. To make an appointment and for more information, please visit christies.com/asianartweek or contact: amehta@christies.com +1 212 636 2190
Text by Georgina Maddox
Images Courtesy: All images © Christie’s Images
Find more about the auction and art works:
https://www.christies.com/auctions/asian-art-week
https://www.saffronart.com/artists/sakti-burman
https://www.knma.in/artist/nasreen-mohamedi
https://www.saffronart.com/artists/f-n-souza
https://jnaf.org/artist/tyeb-mehta/
http://www.jehangir-sabavala.com/
https://artist.christies.com/Abdur-Rahman-Chughtai-15961-bio.aspx
