Watch the forthcoming Saffronart auction to decide which segment of the market is recovering fastest and at what value.
According to the global art mapping index ArtPrice, the hesitant recovery in the first half of 2009 (+1.2 per cent) has turned into negative reading in the third quarter. There are, however, two silver linings in this gloom: One, that third quarters are traditionally low, and two, that subsequent to the third quarter mapping, auction sales have reported better-than-expected estimates. The November New York auctions for both Sotheby’s ($117.1 million) and Christie’s ($63.9 million) are harbingers of a more positive mood, though whether these will ride the Dubai crisis remains to be seen.
Somewhat predictably, India has bucked the global trend. Even though prices that had crashed in India might have seemed on par where the moderns are concerned (in the range of 30 per cent) and unreasonable where the contemporaries are concerned (between 60 and 80 per cent), with mid-range senior artists such as Krishen Khanna or Jehangir Sabavala, Akbar Padamsee, J Swaminathan and K K Hebbar losing value at about 40 per cent. While the moderns were the first to recover, the senior artists who had never touched the price crest have recovered too, so overall prices for moderns are down 15 to 20 per cent, and the senior artists are lower by 20 per cent.
This may be partly because the third quarter in India, unlike the rest of the globe, tends not to be weak: the festive season is setting in, spurring spends. But mostly, it is because liquidity did not dry up in the country, and while it may have played spoilsport for spiralling prices and art funds, recoveries have been faster to come by. The start-of-year auctions were weak, and by summer the mood had still not changed, but the autumn quarter in India pointed to a resurgent market, with auctions as well as the India Art Summit doing better than expected. Art galleries, many of which were on a sabbatical, were forced to rethink their strategies and bounce back with exhibitions.
With both Saffronart and Osian’s reporting surges in price points, it’s time to look at what the online Saffronart auction of modern and contemporary art on December 9 and 10 brings to the table. Unlike some of the earlier auctions this year, the quality of art on offer is marginally better. This departure from the mediocre has also brought the focus on the senior artists, who seem to be the bulwark of this auction — there’s Jogen Chowdhury, K Laxma Goud, K K Hebbar, Bhupen Khakhar, Krishen Khanna, Surendran Nair, Akbar Padamsee, Gulammohahammed Sheikh, Manu Parekh and Thota Vaikuntam — with prices ranging from a low of Rs 75,000 for K G Subramanyan to Rs 90 lakh (on the higher estimate) for Manjit Bawa. The pricing veers towards value rather than peaks, making them good potential buys.
Predictably, the masters lead where the prices are concerned (all prices are for higher estimates) with S H Raza at Rs 1.15 crore, F N Souza following at Rs 92 lakh, M F Husain at Rs 82.8 lakh, and both Ramkumar and Tyeb Mehta at Rs 55 lakh, the latter an early Mehta which is not from his best body of work but important in mapping his oeuvre. At these prices, they are good buys provided the bids don’t go up by much more.
More From This Section
Strangely, it is the contemporaries who are confusing with their prices seemingly out of tune with reality. Partly, this may be because galleries are holding their works bought at premium prices, but when compared to the earlier lists, these prices do seem ludicrous (Subodh Gupta, Rs 90 lakh and on par with Bawa, Justin Ponmany Rs 25 lakh and on par with some Ramkumars, Jagannath Panda Rs 15 lakh, Anju Dodiya Rs 16 lakh, Raquib Shaw at Rs 18 lakh and akin to Krishen Khanna, and a limited edition Atul Dodiya print at Rs 3.22 lakh, more expensive than small Husain and Souza originals at Rs 3 lakh and Rs 1.38 lakh respectively.
Will the contemporaries recover these prices? If they do, the market is well on its way to recovering to a position of strength. But chances are, this is an auction that will belong to the masters and the senior artists — in which case, it could be an indicator of the direction ahead for our younger artists.
