Bhupen Khakhar’s painting sold for 1.1 mn pounds at Sothebys

‘De-Luxe Tailors’, one of the well-known works of renowned artist Bhupen Khakhar, was sold at a record price of 1.1 million pounds at Sothebys in London on Tuesday.

‘De-Luxe Tailors’, which is the last of the seminal Tradesman series by Khakhar, epitomises the artist’s early style and is a signature work from this period, said a Sotheby’s statement.

This painting was a part of painter Howard Hodgkin’s personal collection. He had been a mentor to Khakhar and had hosted the artist many times in the late 1970s.

Born in 1934, Khakhar was a leading artist in Indian contemporary art. He was self-trained and started his career in painting relatively late in life. Khakhar’s oil paintings were often narrative and autobiographical; figurative in nature in relation with the human body and its identity.

His works can be found in the collections of the British Museum, The Tate Gallery, London, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, among others.

Honoured with the prestigious Padma Shri in 1984, the artist died on August 8, 2003.