The Indian art market seems to have digested the results of the fall sales rather well as it prepares for a chilling winter season. Osian's will hold its auction in Mumbai on December 2, 2005 followed by Saffron's online sale that is scheduled a few days later.
Although at first the auction estimates this time seem fairly high, chances that most high estimates for top lots will be overcome seems like a distinct possibility.
There seems to be little or no nervousness as collectors (both old and new) are continuing to buy art in a frenzy. The Indian art market seems to be aping the West where prices of important and rare contemporary works continue to break records each season.
Back home, the upcoming events should make some headlines as well. Osian's sale, as usual, is concentrated on the out-of-favour Bengal school artists, though the sale offers a few very exciting lots. Apart from an early Akbar Padamsee landscape, a late J Swaminathan abstract and a Tyeb Mehta with an estimate between $533,000-666,000, the major interest will be in Atul Dodiya.
A watercolour from 1985 and a major canvas entitled "Interior with a lamp" from 1990 is one of the best Dodiya to have emerged in the art market for quite some time. He is the star of the now not-so-young generation and Dodiya's market and popularity has exploded over the last few years. This September, one of his earlier watercolours sold at a phenomenal rate at Christie's in New York.
Saffron is not offering a major Dodiya in this sale but it has enough good quality works to make up for the loss. The sale, in typical Saffron style, offers a plethora of "Progressives" including a Tyeb Mehta from 1969 estimated at a more reasonable $340,000-$454,000. It also offers a S H Raza for every type of collector, the ever-competent Ram Kumar and, of course some work of M F Husain.
The attraction of the sale, though, will be Souza's "Lovers", a delightful, large work from 1955 that quite possibly might break all the records for the artist. Interestingly, in the last three months alone, over 50 early Souza canvases have come up for sale between auctions and exhibitions in both New York and London.
Saffron also offers some interesting bronze sculptures by Meera Mukherji, Himmat Shah and Valsan Kolleri. Compared to other auction houses it offers a wide spectrum of younger artists though it's nothing earth shattering.
With young Indian artists showing at serious exhibitions from the Venice Biennale and "Indian Summer" in Paris, to art fairs like Freize in London, European dealers and collectors have started taking interest in Indian art.
But will these new admirers bid at auctions? Hopefully, they will sooner than later.