HEAVYWEIGHT: The Raja Ravi Varma painting that went under the hammerThe Nirav Modi art collection that was auctioned by Saffronart on behalf of the Income Tax Department this week comprised choice pieces created by some of the most feted — and highly valued — artists of the 20th and 21st century, such as VS Gaitonde, FN Souza, Akbar Padamsee, Jogen Chowdhury, Jitish Kallat and Atul Dodiya. The collection fetched a total of Rs 54.5 crore, with the following five lots making up more than half the proceeds:
Untitled, VS Gaitonde, 1973
The reclusive Gaitonde’s paintings are among the top-selling works to show up on the contemporary Indian art auction market, breaching records regularly. The untitled work that sold on March 26 for Rs 25.2 crore, is characterised by the same quiet, meditative quality that makes his abstract works so highly valued by critics and collectors.
The Maharaja of Travancore and his younger brother welcoming Richard Temple-Grenville, third Duke of Buckingham and Chandos, Governor-General of Madras (1875-80), on his official visit to Trivandrum in 1880, Raja Ravi Varma, 1881
Sold for Rs 16.1 crore, this artwork is valuable not just for being a rare painting of a ceremonial scene from a painter best known for his portraits, but also for the professional repercussion on Varma of the event depicted in it. The Third Duke of Buckingham’s visit to the princely state of Travancore was a major event, and Varma’s commission to depict this occasion was indicative of his growing stature as an artist. Unfortunately, for him, he incurred the jealousy of Maharaja Ayilyom Thirunal, thanks to the Duke’s eagerness to meet him. The British guest even invited Varma to sit with the king and himself, a breach of local custom which Varma declined to carry out. Shortly after the visit, Varma left Travancore, knowing full well that he was no longer in the king’s good graces.
Grey Nude by Akbar Padamsee (COURTESY: SAFFRON ART)Cityscape, FN Souza, 1974
For an artist better known for the frequently distorted and monstrous figures that populate his canvases, Souza produced a few conventionally cheery works, one of which sold for Rs 1.78 crore at the auction. The Goa-born artist made a number of cityscapes over the course of his career, most of which were painted in muted, sombre tones and were characterised by a certain cynicism. The Cityscape which sold this week, painted in bright tones, marks a departure from that.
Grey Nude, Akbar Padamsee, 1960
Made early during a critical period in the artist’s career, when he had decided to restrict himself to shades of grey, this Padamsee painting fetched Rs. 1.72 crore. The Grey Period, as it came to be known, presented the painter with “immense formal possibilities”, as he once said, and works from this period have been, along with his “metascapes”, hugely sought after by collectors.
Golly-Wog, FN Souza, 1958
The “heads” that Souza made in the 1950s include some of the most iconic works he made during his prolific career, and are much sought after by collectors. The style that he evolved with his heads — characterised by bold lines swirling out into whorls and loops and distorted facial features that present a view of the soul inside — is clearly visible in Golly-Wog, which sold for Rs 1.38 crores.
