Art worth Rs 20cr up for sale at Osian's Historical

KOLKATA: Top-notch domestic auctioneer Osian’s is going with the third edition of its Historical series of auctions. The sale features an overall spread of 119 lots which sport a total estimated value of Rs 15 crore on the lower side and Rs 20 crore at the upper level. The average value of the lots is placed in the range of Rs 12.5-16.5 lakh.

“The Historical Series III brings together rare and historically significant works from many key individual collections such as Kito and Jane De Boer and the Maneka Gandhi family collection.

An untitled MF Husain painting of the early 1950s forms a part of the Maneka Gandhi family collection. This work was gifted by the artist to Indira Gandhi who in turn presented it to Sanjay and Maneka on their wedding,” Neville Tuli, Osian’s chairman, told ET.

On the estimates front, Nicholas Roerich’s Sadhu Amid the Mountains is priced at Rs 1-1.25 crore, Radha Charan Bagchi’s Women in Bed Rs 20-25 lakh, Husain Untitled Rs 30-37.5 lakh, Souza’s Orange Grove-California Rs 60-75 lakh, Raza’s Nad-Bindu Rs 1-1.2 crore and J Swaminathan’s Mountain and Bird series Rs 85 lakh to Rs 1.25 crore.

In step with these works, Bikash Bhattacharjee’s In June 19 is placed in the region of Rs 36-45 lakh, Animal by Ganesh Pyne is estimated at Rs 36-45 lakh, Vivan Sundaram Rs 24-30 lakh, while an Untitled by Chitravanu Mazumdar is reflecting a value of Rs 16-20 lakh.

At the same time, Abanindranath Tagore’s Mask Series, Gaganendranath Tagore’s The Himalayas, Chittaprosad’s Three Women, Somnath Hore’s Child, Paritosh Sen’s Camels and Prakash Karmakar’s Green Revolution are all valued at Rs 6-7.5 lakh.

Laxma Goud’s Two Gentlemen is estimated at Rs 4-5 lakh. At a slightly higher level of estimates, J Sultan Ali’s Unknown is enjoying an estimate of Rs 12-15 lakh, KCS Panicker Rs 12-15 lakh and L Munuswamy’s Animals in Composition Rs 16-20 lakh.

“The market is very strong and growing in confidence and discrimination. As a result, we have now kept the price estimates very low so that the market is clearly seen to be determining the prices of art in a transparent manner.

The Historical Series will maintain the quality of the Masterpieces Series, while allowing many new collectors to purchase smaller yet historically significant works of art. Given that the average lot price is expected to be between Rs 16 lakh and Rs 18 lakh, will automatically open up the room for several new collectors to acquire works which would not be available in the gallery circuit,” Mr Tuli said.

According to him, old and rare works which are not easily accessible are figuring in the Historical sale. The 119 paintings and drawings which are slated to go under the hammer in end-November were picked from around 2,000 works that came to Osian’s.