Sale of Indian art soars in 2021, auction houses see more growth headroom

Saffronart had at least two auctions a week in 2021 and sales of Indian art jumped to Rs 900 cr from Rs 750 cr in 2020

From individual value to the quality of collections, from the number of buyers to the frequency of auction, Indian art in the last year went only one way: up.
 
It’s not just the works of Indian artists that are selling in higher numbers and at higher prices, the number of Indian buyers, too, has increased in the last couple of years.
 
Referring specifically to India, Guillaume Cerutti, chief execu­tive officer of Christie’s, says that there was a 31 per cent increase in the number of buyers from India in 2021 as compared to 2020, and Indian sales numbers went up by around 25 per cent in 2020 and 15 per cent in 2019. “That was despite the fact that India has been part of Christie’s APAC (Asia-Pacific) region since 2018 and with the travel ban in place since Covid, not much support was given to the local team and projects planned were unable to be realised,” he notes.

 

Other international auction houses also reported high growth.
 
Manjari Sihare-Sutin, head of Sale, Modern and Contemporary South Asian Art, Sotheby’s, New York, says: “It was a historic year for Sotheby’s overall, and such growth and success was equally mirrored across the sales of modern and contemporary South Asian Art.” She adds that sales in this category went up almost 30 per cent in 2021 over 2020, and with the overall total that once again soared over the pre-auction high estimate, it’s clear that the appetite for South Asian art remains strong, “with an ever present boost from new and young collectors who continue to enter this market”.

 
Some of the top private collections that Sotheby’s offered this year included those of the Marshak family and Patwant Singh in New York.

For leading local players like Saffronart, in rupee terms, it was the largest year in the history of Indian art, says Dinesh Vazirani, fou­nder of India’s top auction house. He notes that what was driving the sales was the “captive audience syndrome”, which also allowed for deeper engagement because they had time to rese­arch, given the longer stays at home.
 
Saffronart had at least two auct­i­ons a week in 2021, which it executed in hybrid and online formats. Overall, sales of Indian art jumped to Rs 900 crore from Rs 750 crore in 2020 and Rs 700 crore in 2019. Sihare-Sutin adds, “Indian collectors bid more than $100 million in Sotheby’s global auctions this year, the highest figure in at least five years.”

 
Sotheby’s sales of modern and contemporary South Asian art included two auctions this year — one each in New York and London (just like in 2020) — with two pre-auction exhibitions in Mumbai. Combined sales reached $14.5 million, comfortably above the high estimate of $10.3 million, and up almost 30 per cent on their equivalent totals in 2020 ($11.3 million). Other indicators also showed an upward trend. Sihare-Sutin said the average value of the lots sold in this category went up 14 per cent year-on-year. “The (New York) auction had one of our highest proport­ions of consignments from India to date — including Patwant Si­n­gh’s collection — and more than half of buyers came from India,” she adds.

 
So what spurred the buying?
 
The stay-at-home factor and that people had surplus money (with Covid restricting travel, fine dining and such), and they saw art as a new asset class, Vazirani says. The last year saw the highest auction market in Indian rupees ever achieved for the following artists: Amrita Sher-Gil, Raja Ravi Varma, Laxma Goud, V S Gaitonde, N S Bendre, and Bhupen Khakhar. While Saffronart sold one high-value art worth more than Rs 20 crore in 2020, this year it sold four, Vazirani says.
 
Auction houses see more headroom for growth and sales.
 

“During the upcoming India Art Fair (February 3-6) in New Delhi, and Covid permitting, Christie’s will hold a highlight preview show of the upcoming NY South Asian art auction in New Delhi and Mumbai,” says Cerutti. Christie’s has had a permanent presence in India since 1994 and has been conducting standalone South Asian Modern sales in its international auction rooms since 1995.
Of course, Indian art and its value still remains well behind the West, where a single work by a master such as Picasso can fetch hundreds of millions of dollars.
 
Meanwhile, the increase across all categories holds true for Indian art as well. “Over the last year, we also expanded in private sales, which is a category we take very seriously,” Cerutti says. “It’s clear that the trends in 2021, with contemporary art, new collectors, NFTs and millennials, will see continued investment and value growth.”