Indian Artists Breaks World Record At Bohams Sale

Online, June 10, 2012 (Newswire.com) - A stunning image by one of India's foremost modern artists Jehangir Sabavala led a strong selection of works by major South Asian artists at Bonhams annual summer sale of Modern and Contemporary South Asian art on 7th June in New Bond Street, London.The sale included works by well-known Indian, Pakistani and Sri Lankan artists such as M.F. Husain, Jamini Roy, B. Prabha, Sadequain, Jamil Naqsh and A. R. Chughtai and Gulgee sourced from private collections in Europe and the USA. The auction also presented the largest group of works by Pakistani masters to ever come under the hammer at an international auction. Gulgee's 1965 work titled Buzkashi (15,000-25,000), which depicts Afghanistan's national sport, was one of the highlights of this section, more than doubling its upper estimate to finally sell at GBP 61,250. Although better known for his calligraphic compositions, during the 1950s and 60's Gulgee was the national portrait painter of Pakistan and was commissioned to paint the portraits of many figures of the Islamic world, including the Saudi Royal family. Other paintings by Pakistnai artists in the sale included 2 pieces by Sadequain, titled Girl with Mirror and Figure in Landscape, which sold for GBP 37,250, and GBP 43,250 respectively. An untitled piece by Jamil Naqsh also went for GBP 43,250, while AR Chughtai's work, Girl with Instrument, sold for GBP 33,650.The highlight of the sale was a serene work by one of India's foremost modern artists Jehangir Sabavala, Vespers I, which had been estimated to sell for GBP 100,000-150,000, but after a saleroom tussle between two buyers in the room, was finally auctioned for GBP 253,650. Illustrated on the cover of his monograph by Ranjit Hoskote, The Crucible of Painting: The Art of Jehangir Sabavala, Vespers I is one of Sabavala's most important works, representing a key period of transition in the artist's life. It was first exhibited at the Jehangir Art Gallery, Bombay and then at his solo exhibition at the Commonwealth Institute, London. 'Sabavala had a lifelong fascination with monastic life, and the figures of the monk and the hermit are central to his work. Indeed, he often compared his long, solitary and disciplined hours of work in the studio with a monk's routine of study, prayer, retreat and meditation,' says Ranjit Hoskote, an independent curator who was responsible for the Indian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale in 2011.Mehreeen Rizvi, Head of Modern and Contemporary South Asian Art at Bonhams commenting after the sale, said:"We are delighted with this result for Sabavala. It is about time this artist achieved commercial success in the art market to mirror his artistic reputation.The second highest price achieved in the sale was a work by the renowned Indian artist M.F. Husain titled The Blue Lady which made GBP 97,250 against a pre-sale estimate of GBP 70,000-90,000. It was from the private UK collection of Mr. John Hay, having been presented to Hay's mother Elizabeth Partridge by her sister as a wedding present in India.