Small artists make a big splash

KOLKATA: While Indian paintings have seen hefty price rises in Indian art auctions, the secondary market for art within the country has been booming in its own way.

Painters have witnessed a price appreciation ranging between two and five times over the past one year. Even as the top rung of painters may have doubled, the undervalued or younger names have experienced taller increases.

In this overview of the price movements, one has compared prices of similar sized paintings within a timeframe of one year. MF Husain, the biggest name of them all, is probably a good place to start. A Husain paperwork which sold for Rs 10-12 lakh a year ago, is selling at Rs 18-25 lakh now. In step, a 14 by 18 inches Husain canvas which boasted of Rs 14 lakh tag is now valued in the region of Rs 25 lakh. Together with Husain, a SH Raza paperwork priced at Rs 5.5 lakh is going for Rs 10 lakh.

In tune with this tempo in the art market, a Ganesh Pyne tempera has risen from Rs 20 lakh to Rs 45 lakh, a Jogen Chowdhury paperwork Rs 5 lakh to Rs 18 lakh, Paritosh Sen canvas Rs 5.5 lakh to Rs 12 lakh, while a Sanat Kar canvas has jumped from Rs 2.5 lakh to Rs 8 lakh.

The price increases have been spread across the board albeit in varying degrees. A Satish Gujral drawing which was worth Rs 3 lakh one year back is now hovering at Rs 5 lakh, with a Gujral canvas adding another Rs 7 lakh to its ’05 price of Rs 18 lakh. Kartick Pyne, who like Gujral is seen to be undervalued, has found his canvas value rising from Rs 2.5 lakh to Rs 4.5 lakh.

A Madhvi Parekh canvas which was not drawing buyers at Rs 1.5 lakh a year ago, is now swinging a Rs 3.5 lakh tag. In the same breath, Manu Parekh’s canvas has more than doubled from Rs 3.25 lakh to Rs 7 lakh.

Among few of the other high-end labels together with Husain and Raza, a Ram Kumar paperwork which was worth Rs 15 lakh has climbed to Rs 24 lakh, a Souza chemical work has gone up from Rs 1.25 lakh to Rs 5 lakh and a canvas from Rs 20 lakh to Rs 65 lakh and KG Subramanyan’s small drawings from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 3.5 lakh. A Shyamal Datta Ray paperwork has, in tandem, vaulted to Rs 8 lakh from Rs 3.5 lakh and a Partha Pratim Deb drawing Rs 20,000 to Rs 40,000.

Among the younger lot, a Chandra Bhattacharjee canvas has shot up from Rs 75,000 to Rs 3.25 lakh, a Paresh Maity paperwork Rs 1.25 lakh to Rs 5 lakh, PR Narvekar Rs 85,000 to Rs 1.25 lakh, Amitabha Dhar Rs 75,000 to Rs 1.25 lakh and Samindranath Mazumdar Rs 35,000 to 50,000.

“Prices are going up in a broadbased manner, because the market expanding and buyers are homing in on a range of artists. People are investing in a big way in art. Art has become an investment vehicle. We can expect an overall average appreciation of at least 30-35% in the coming months,” an art market source told ET.