An upcoming online auction presents 150 exceptional works of modern and contemporary Indian art, including those by stalwarts such as Raja Ravi Varma, Tyeb Mehta and S.H. Raza.
The artists represented span the evolution of the Indian art scene from the pre-Independence period to the present day, illustrating over 100 years of art history.
The Summer Online Auction by Saffronart, a leading player in the international art business, is scheduled to be held on Wednesday and Thursday.
The auction will take place on saffronart.com, where the lots can be viewed currently.
In the paintings section, Tyeb Mehta's iconic "Kali" (1989) is estimated to be priced between Rs 19.5 crore and Rs 26 crore.
A 1965 "Untitled" canvas by V.S. Gaitonde, widely regarded as one of India's foremost abstractionists, is estimated at Rs 5.2 crore-Rs 7.8 crore.
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Raja Ravi Varma's "Untitled (Shiva)" is estimated at Rs 3 crore-Rs 5 crore.
Artworks by other prominent artists like S.H. Raza and Manjit Bawa are also up for grabs.
Also on auction are works by notable modernists such as Nandalal Bose, Gaganendranath Tagore, Mahadev Visvanath Dhurandhar, Amrita Sher-Gil, Anjolie Ela Menon, Ram Kumar, Akbar Padamsee, N.S. Bendre, F.N. Souza, Bhupen Khakhar, Arpita Singh and Zarina Hashmi.
The highlight of the contemporary section, which features 23 works by some of the foremost practitioners in the field, is "Hungry God" (2005-06), a large installation of stainless steel vessels by acclaimed contemporary artist Subodh Gupta.
Sculptors like Himmat Shah, Sankho Chaudhuri, Prodosh Dasgupta, Meera Mukherjee, S. Dhanapal and Piraji Sagara, renowned for their bold yet sensitive approach to the process of creating sculptures, too find space in the two-day online auction.
The organisers said that apart from these leading names, the auction also features works by lesser known artists "whose work left a mark on the modern Indian art scene".
--IANS
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