Art going places
|
The recent auction at Dhoomimal Gallery was an eye opener.
|
Good money Arpana Caur’s this painting was auctioned for 11 lakh .
Promoting art and artists through auction has almost become a routine affair in art galleries. The latest to join the bandwagon is the oldest art gallery in Delhi, Dhoomimal.
The just-concluded auction at Dhoomimal included works of masters like B.C. Sanyal, J. Swaminathan, Jamini Roy, Jogen Chowdhury, Anjolie Ela Menon, Niren Sen Gupta, K.M. Adimoolan and others, apart from several known names like S.G. Vasudev, Manu Parekh, Seema Kohli, Jai Zarotia, Shridhar Iyer and so on. The auction was organised in aid of an NGO called SEED.
Most of the works in the auction, called Colours of Hope, were from the gallery’s own collection. The base price was kept at Rs.80,000 (for artist Ashok Gulati) to over a crore (Souza’s original works).
According to figures supplied by a gallery representative, the lesser known Ashok Gulati found the bid climbing to 1.60 lakhs, while the highest bid for a B.C. Sanyal work stopped at 12 lakh, followed by Arpana Caur at 11 lakhs.
The middle range bids stopped at Rs.4 lakhs for Umesh Verma. And surprisingly, H.D Gade, a very senior artist, rose from oblivion to make it to 7.5 lakhs.
No takers
Significantly, most of the masters did not make it to the bidding. Be it Souza, Menon, Swaminathan or Jogen, none of them found any takers, though Jamini Roy’s small work, among many rare ones, was auctioned at Rs.3 lakhs. The prices kept were, however, arbitrary.
“The entire money earned from the auction would go for the NGO,” says Romira from SEED. But a gallery representative clarifies that the charity amount is only 25 per cent of the takings, while the gallery keeps 25 per cent and the artist gets 50 per cent.
Art lovers used to complain that an auction was meant for selling expensive items for the lowest possible amount, which is just the opposite in the case of art works. The masters are kept at almost unreachable prices, while the others enjoy the ‘auctionable’ status.
And that’s why more so-called middle level artists get auctioned than their senior counterparts. “The market is not determined by the auction anyway. So if auctions are happening frequently, it is to benefit the secondary market. There is nothing wrong about it,” says Sharan Apparao of Apparao Galleries. She adds that since masters’ works have vanished from the market, it’s fine to auction them at a higher price unlike contemporary ones whose works are available with the galleries anyway!
Interestingly, there are young buyers who have emerged in the market. “They identify with the young artists more than the senior ones,” Adds Neville Tulli of Osian’s art fair, “The international buyers prefer contemporary artists and very high quality senior ones. But the Indians still prefer senior artists.” All said and done, the auctions have opened a new chapter in the art market.
RANA SIDDIQUI
Printer friendly
page
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Friday Review
Bangalore
Chennai and Tamil Nadu
Delhi
Hyderabad
Thiruvananthapuram
