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Business Standard
24-04-2025
- Business
- Business Standard
As Indian art gets famous, a great chance to diversify your portfolio
With record-breaking sales, Indian art is finding its voice - and value - both at home and abroad. This might be the best time to invest in some great artworks Namrata Kohli Delhi Listen to This Article Stocks are great but you can't hang them on a wall. As if to prove that point, there is a new-found buoyancy in the Indian art market and excitement amongst artists and art collectors. A landmark event was the sale of Maqbool Fida Husain's 1954 painting 'Untitled (Gram Yatra)' for $13.7 million, or about Rs 118 crore, making it the most expensive work of modern Indian art ever sold in a public auction. According to Roshini Vadehra, director of the Vadehra Art Gallery and trustee at the Foundation for Indian Contemporary Art, 'Overall, South Asian art is having a great
Mint
23-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Mint
Indian art is having its breakout moment. Here's who's driving it
Indian art is having its breakout moment—and a new generation of collectors, curators and market makers is leading the charge. In a matter of weeks, a trio of blockbuster art auctions across New York and Mumbai raked in more than ₹ 220 crore, with modern masters like M.F. Husain and Tyeb Mehta smashing records once reserved for Western icons. The biggest headline came from Christie's in New York, where Husain's monumental Gram Yatra sold for ₹ 118 crore—the highest price ever paid for an Indian artwork. Not far behind, Mehta's Trussed Bull fetched ₹ 61.8 crore at Saffronart's Mumbai sale, nearly nine times its high estimate. At Sotheby's in New York, Jagdish Swaminathan's Homage to Solzhenitsyn crossed ₹ 39 crore. After years of quiet momentum, India's art market has entered a new phase of global relevance—driven not just by wealth, but by strategic repositioning, institutional power, and a swelling wave of collectors who view art not just as culture, but as capital. Also read | How Sotheby's made it to the spotlight in India's art market 'The surge in demand is being driven by the onset of a new crop of collectors, not just the older well-heeled ones but even a younger lot who have equal love for the masters as well as the globally renowned lot of mid-career masters," said Delhi-based independent critic and curator Uma Nair. While Husain, Raza and Mehta remain anchors of the market, contemporary names like Jitish Kallat, Atul Dodiya and Bharti Kher are also drawing attention. Veteran buyers like Kiran Nadar still dominate, but younger, digital-savvy collectors are entering the fray—fuelling record prices and a broader appetite for both modern masters and contemporary stars. While Nadar placed the winning bid for Husain's Gram Yatra , emerging names like Shankh Mitra are stepping into the spotlight too. Mitra was among the final contenders for the historic Husain sale, and reflects what Nair calls an example of 'the desire for accumulating art as an asset." Jaiveer Johal, a logistics business owner in Chennai, began collecting modern and contemporary Indian art about a decade ago, when he was 28. He soon widened his collection—moving swiftly from modern to contemporary to classicals. Now 36, Johal calls his collection 'aesthetically focused." It includes paintings by S.H. Raza and F.N. Souza, as well as sculptures and miniatures from classical traditions, such as Gandhara and Vijayanagara-period pieces. "The most notable is the emergence of young collectors, looking specifically at contemporary art and the average collector is between 40-50 years, the younger collectors have begun to collect as early as 30," AstaGuru's CEO, Tushar Sethi had told Mint in an earlier conversation. Read this | The Met's Indian affair: Iconic New York museum embraces India's contemporary art boom With major galleries and a wave of new collectors driving art events across the country, Nair said, 'Great artworks reflect the market dynamics, and are positioned with a clear sense of how they stand out among the many styles that appeal to today's new generation of collectors." This boom isn't just about deeper pockets. It's being powered by a wider, younger base—many of them digital-first, collecting well beyond traditional names. 'There is a confidence in the market that cannot be denied," said Minal Vazirani, co-founder of auction house Saffronart. 'Since the pandemic, we've seen increasing wealth and interest, and now there's a new segment of younger, digital-native collectors alongside seasoned ones." She added that the Indian art market has doubled since 2020—from ₹ 700 crore to over ₹ 1,400 crore. According to Nair, the art boom mirrors India's economic story. "The Indian economy and its many facets of meteoric momentum in addition to wealth, have all added to the records that have fuelled strong market dynamics," Nair told Mint . Record-breaking sales, she added, 'tell us of the rites of passage in the hands of a group of collectors." The numbers tell the story. March alone brought in ₹ 470 crore in global sales—nearly a fourth of FY25's full-year total, according to Asign Data Sciences. Analysts say this surge, years in the making, is likely to carry well into 2025. And if Saffronart's April auction is any sign, the rally is just getting started. That sale alone topped ₹ 245 crore, setting a new global benchmark for South Asian art with a 100% sell-through rate. Highlights included Amrita Sher-Gil's Still Life with Green Bottles and Apples ( ₹ 24 crore), F.N. Souza's Supper at Emmaus ( ₹ 15.3 crore), and Edwin Lord Weeks' Lake at Oodeypore ( ₹ 12 crore). Seven artists set new global price benchmarks, including Nalini Malani's Nursery Tales at ₹ 3.36 crore—over five times its estimate. AstaGuru and Pundole's also reported strong demand for both marquee names and rarer historical pieces. A 1903 Riddhisiddhi Ganpati —once part of the Fritz Schleicher collection—fetched ₹ 16 crore at Pundole's, doubling its high estimate. Read this | Indian art market is one of the most exciting we've seen in recent years: Christie's CEO Cerutti At AstaGuru, Jehangir Sabavala's In The Ambush Of A Calm sold for ₹ 3.8 crore in February, while a 1980 J. Swaminathan canvas, Bird Tree Mountain , fetched ₹ 2.56 crore—underscoring a growing collector appetite beyond the usual trio of Husain, Mehta and Raza. 'Culture is a logical extension of financial prosperity. The momentum for the Indian art market began during the pandemic and it is continuing," said Dadiba Pundole, whose gallery has watched the build-up since the pandemic. 'By and large, Indians are buying the blue-chip works, and rare or special works have recently come to the market and broken barriers like crossing $10 million, demonstrating that the market is becoming more discerning. But as the prices of some big names go out of hand, buyers are also considering works that are not very expensive," Pundole said. Asign's data backs that up. In FY25, the highest volume of sales came from the sub- ₹ 5 lakh price range, suggesting a widening base. At the same time, the ₹ 5 crore-and-above segment generated 40% of overall turnover, with 244 artworks sold above that level—up 17% from FY24. In the ₹ 5–10 crore bracket alone, 35 works sold, a 34% jump from the year before. And read | Indian art prices are at an all-time high. Is there stagnation or growth ahead? 'What we're seeing at the upper end is that older collectors are still buying, but younger collectors are also entering steadily," added Pundole. 'Current trends suggest this upward cycle will continue. While there may be short-term disruptions from stock or macroeconomic shifts, the long-term trajectory is positive. We expect to see more important works entering the market." With major auctions lined up in Delhi, London and New York, the story of Indian art's ascent is still being written. But one thing is clear: it's no longer waiting in the wings.
The Guardian
10-04-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
‘Finally we are being seen as contenders': delight in India as demand for south Asian art booms
For over seven decades, the masterpiece had gathered dust as it hung in the corridors of a Norwegian hospital. But last month, the monumental 13-panel 1954 painting Untitled (Gram Yatra) – one of the most significant pieces of modern south Asian art – sold for a record-breaking $13.7m in New York. The auction of the painting sent ripples through the art world. It was not only the highest price ever paid for a painting by Maqbool Fida Husain, one of India's most celebrated modern artists, but it was the highest ever paid for any piece of modern Indian art at auction – going for four times the estimated price. It also happened to be the most expensive artwork auctioned so far in 2025. Indian, and more broadly south Asian artists, have long failed to receive the same recognition as their western counterparts. Few were displayed in the world's great galleries and collections, international exhibitions celebrating their work have been scarce and their presence at the world's biggest art fairs – the powerful drivers of today's art market – has been minimal. Yet recently there are signs that things are changing and Indian art – both modern and contemporary – is having what many in the field described as a 'major moment'. Auction prices for prominent 20th century Indian artists have consistently broken records over the past few years, while according to international online art broker Artsy, the demand for Indian artists increased more than for any other nationality in 2024. For Nishad Avari, head of South Asian Modern and Contemporary Art at Christie's in New York, the record-breaking sale of the Husain painting in March – which took him over a decade to orchestrate – was reflective of a wider shift in the recognition and momentum around Indian artists, that he credited with originating from within India. 'Over the past couple of years, we've seen the ecosystem for the arts in India really expanding,' said Avari. 'There are lots of new participants and a newfound confidence that's driving demand and many new conversations are taking place, both in India and internationally. It's all long overdue to be honest.' India experienced an art boom once before, in the early to late 2000s, when works by Modernist artists such as Husain and Amrita Sher-Gil began to fetch prices at auction never before seen by artists from the subcontinent. Yet many viewed it as a bubble driven by a few wealthy figures distorting prices, and it all came crashing down after the 2008 global financial crisis. Artists, curators and gallerists were all in agreement that the current environment was markedly different, in part due to the country's newfound enthusiasm for homegrown contemporary art and the growing institutional backing for Indian artists. For decades, arts in the India have suffered by a severe lack of state funding, ensuring that museums and galleries are often uninspiring, celebrating just a select few modern artists. But as wealth in India has grown, so too has the number of arts patrons. There has been a recent surge in privately run galleries and museums opening across the country, championing both India's 20th century modern masters but also the next generation of contemporary artists. India also has its own flourishing art fair held annually in Delhi and a younger generation of Indian art collectors have emerged with a newfound interest in contemporary art. A new Museum of Art and Photography opened in Bengaluru in 2023 and Kiran Nadar, India's biggest private patron and collector of modern and contemporary art, will open a major museum in Delhi next year. Some of the country's biggest billionaire industrialists have recently bankrolled cultural centres in Mumbai and Hampi and the Jaipur royal family has just opened a centre for the arts in the City Palace. Contemporary Indian artists described it as one of the most exciting moments for the country's art scene. 'Up until three or four years ago, the art market in India, the people in power, the institutions, the galleries and the collectors just didn't take Indian artists as seriously as they did international artists – and that meant the world never took us seriously,' said Tarini Sethi, a multi-disciplinary artist who works out of Delhi. 'But that's changed so much. Now there is a huge push to invest in and highlight our own artists, whether that's with gallery shows in India or abroad. For the first time, collectors and galleries want to take a chance on newer voices.' Sethi's own sculptures and paintings take what she described as a 'maximalist, in-your-face approach' to depictions of sex, unity and women's bodies, directly addressing their continued taboo in India. However, she recalled when studying art in the US that professors would routinely critique her work for not being 'Indian enough'. But as more contemporary Indian artists have been championed by patrons and showcased by domestic galleries, and as a result increasingly seen at international galleries and art fairs, Sethi said it was challenging cliched perceptions that all the country had to offer was 'folk art and paintings of cows and Gandhi'. Sethi acknowledged there was 'still a long way to go' – she recently showed her work at an art fair around Art Basel in Miami, one of the art world's most prominent fairs, and was shocked to realise only two Indian galleries were present. 'But at least finally we are being seen as contenders,' she added. This momentum has also been reflected internationally. In the past year, the Barbican Centre and the Serpentine Gallery in London, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the Pompidou in Paris have all held prominent exhibitions of Indian artists, with many featuring works seen outside India for the first time. At the 2023 Frieze Art Fair, Experimenter, a contemporary gallery that began in the Indian city of Kolkata, won the prestigious best stand award for its presentation of seven intergenerational female artists. In the US, it was a frustration at 'seeing all this incredible work coming out of India that was not being celebrated in the west as I felt it should be' that led gallerist Rajiv Menon to open a space in Los Angeles almost primarily dedicated to south Asian artists. Menon's focus has been on giving western viewers and collectors an opportunity to see South Asian artists in a wider context; his current show is by a Pakistani artist Noormah Jamal whose works reflect on her childhood growing up in Peshawar. He described the response to his other exhibitions, which have included works by Sethi, as 'phenomenal', with six pieces acquired by museums in a matter of months. 'So many of the themes that the works in the shows have dealt with – climate, migration, political precariousness – are very specific to the South Asia but they also speak deeply to the human condition everywhere,' says Menon. 'It's really affirmed my hypothesis that as soon as these artists are given an opportunity to show in the west, they will immediately find an audience. This is just the beginning.'
Yahoo
29-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
A rediscovered painting that just made Indian art history
A forgotten oil-on-canvas masterpiece by Indian painter MF Husain, rediscovered decades later, has rewritten the record books for Indian art. Husain's Untitled (Gram Yatra), a sprawling 14-foot-wide mural, sold for an unprecedented $13.8m (£10.6m) at a Christie's auction in New York last week. It shattered the previous Indian high of $7.4m (£5.7m) fetched by Amrita Sher-Gil's The Story Teller in 2023. Husain, who died in 2011, aged 95, was a pioneer of Indian modernism and remains a lasting inspiration for Indian artists. In 2006, he left India after death threats from Hindu hardline groups over his depictions of deities. For nearly five decades, the record-breaking painting unassumingly adorned the walls of a Norwegian hospital, overlooked and undervalued. Now, it stands as a defining work of modern South Asian art. Husain painted Gram Yatra - or village journey - in 1954, long before he became an icon. Its 13 vignettes - vivid snapshots of Indian village life - reflect his distinctive blend of Indian folk traditions and modernist influences. The vignettes are reminiscent of narrative paintings in India's miniature tradition, where small pictures weave a story. In Gram Yatra, Husain used vibrant, earthy tones to bring 13 frames to life, with women in everyday scenes such as cooking, caring for children and riding a cart. In one of the frames, a farmer extends his arm as if holding the land in the adjoining frame - a nod to the farming roots of Indian society. "If you're looking for a single artwork that defines modern South Asian art, this is it," said Nishad Avari, head of South Asian Modern and Contemporary Art at Christie's. The painting, he added, also showed how Husain was influenced by his foreign travels, notably his 1952 trip to China which introduced him to the calligraphic brushwork of artists like Xu Beihong, traces of which can be seen in the painting's expressive strokes. In the years following India's independence, he sought inspiration not in Paris or New York, but in India's villages, mirroring Mahatma Gandhi's belief that the heart of the nation lay in its rural roots. According to Husain's biographer Akhilesh (who uses only one name), the painter's deep engagement with India's cultural fabric helped shape how the country saw itself - "how people live, what they like and what they think". The painting also shows the early signs of Husain's modified cubist style - where geometric shapes and bold lines stood out in his works. The painting's journey from Delhi to Oslo adds to its mystique. It was purchased in 1954 for just $295 by Ukrainian doctor Leon Elias Volodarsky, who was in India on a World Health Organization (WHO) mission. After he took it to Norway, the piece adorned the walls of Oslo University Hospital for nearly half a century, largely unnoticed by the art world. It stayed that way for several decades until auction house Christie's was alerted about it in 2013 - two years after Husain's death - leading to its global exhibitions before this record-smashing sale. Ashish Anand of Delhi Art Gallery believes this will elevate the value of Husain's entire body of work and "lead to Indian art being viewed beyond just its aesthetic value to a tangible and serious financial asset". Follow BBC News India on Instagram, YouTube, X and Facebook
Yahoo
28-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
A rediscovered painting that just made Indian art history
A forgotten oil-on-canvas masterpiece by Indian painter MF Husain, rediscovered decades later, has rewritten the record books for Indian art. Husain's Untitled (Gram Yatra), a sprawling 14-foot-wide mural, sold for an unprecedented $13.8m (£10.6m) at a Christie's auction in New York last week. It shattered the previous Indian high of $7.4m (£5.7m) fetched by Amrita Sher-Gil's The Story Teller in 2023. Husain, who died in 2011, aged 95, was a pioneer of Indian modernism and remains a lasting inspiration for Indian artists. In 2006, he left India after death threats from Hindu hardline groups over his depictions of deities. For nearly five decades, the record-breaking painting unassumingly adorned the walls of a Norwegian hospital, overlooked and undervalued. Now, it stands as a defining work of modern South Asian art. Husain painted Gram Yatra - or village journey - in 1954, long before he became an icon. Its 13 vignettes - vivid snapshots of Indian village life - reflect his distinctive blend of Indian folk traditions and modernist influences. The vignettes are reminiscent of narrative paintings in India's miniature tradition, where small pictures weave a story. In Gram Yatra, Husain used vibrant, earthy tones to bring 13 frames to life, with women in everyday scenes such as cooking, caring for children and riding a cart. In one of the frames, a farmer extends his arm as if holding the land in the adjoining frame - a nod to the farming roots of Indian society. "If you're looking for a single artwork that defines modern South Asian art, this is it," said Nishad Avari, head of South Asian Modern and Contemporary Art at Christie's. The painting, he added, also showed how Husain was influenced by his foreign travels, notably his 1952 trip to China which introduced him to the calligraphic brushwork of artists like Xu Beihong, traces of which can be seen in the painting's expressive strokes. In the years following India's independence, he sought inspiration not in Paris or New York, but in India's villages, mirroring Mahatma Gandhi's belief that the heart of the nation lay in its rural roots. According to Husain's biographer Akhilesh (who uses only one name), the painter's deep engagement with India's cultural fabric helped shape how the country saw itself - "how people live, what they like and what they think". The painting also shows the early signs of Husain's modified cubist style - where geometric shapes and bold lines stood out in his works. The painting's journey from Delhi to Oslo adds to its mystique. It was purchased in 1954 for just $295 by Ukrainian doctor Leon Elias Volodarsky, who was in India on a World Health Organization (WHO) mission. After he took it to Norway, the piece adorned the walls of Oslo University Hospital for nearly half a century, largely unnoticed by the art world. It stayed that way for several decades until auction house Christie's was alerted about it in 2013 - two years after Husain's death - leading to its global exhibitions before this record-smashing sale. Ashish Anand of Delhi Art Gallery believes this will elevate the value of Husain's entire body of work and "lead to Indian art being viewed beyond just its aesthetic value to a tangible and serious financial asset". Follow BBC News India on Instagram, YouTube, X and Facebook
