International Head of Indian and South Asian Art at Sotheby’s and well-known name in the art fraternity Yamini Mehta was in Delhi recently for the India Art Fair and thus spoke about Sotheby’s much anticipated Modern & Contemporary South Asian Art Sale that is slated on March 19 in New York.

Sotheby’s is the world’s largest art business and world’s fourth oldest auction house that is still continuing. The sale will comprise of iconic creations by MF Husain, SH Raza, FN Souza, Bikash Bhattacharjee and Ganesh Pyne. SH Raza’s Ville Provençale would make the highlight of the show. The painting was first exhibited at the Venice Biennale in 1956 and is now up for sale and the stakes on it are really high.

In a conversation with The Indian Express, Yamini talked about the upcoming sale, significance of SH Raza’s work and  Bhupen Khakhar, the dip in the price of contemporaries and the boom in the sale of Modernists and the prospects of Indian art market.

Yamini believes that Raza’s Ville Provençale is his most “unusual and seminal” work which is distinguished by its vivid colours, it displays a semi-abstracted view of a town in rural Provence. The significance of Raza’s work can be ascertained from the fact that it is expected to fetch at least 2.5 million dollars in the sale.

Here is a picture of Raza’s Ville Provençale:

SH Raza’s Ville Provençale

It was in October last year when Bhupen Khakhar’s De-Luxe Tailors from his ‘Tradesmen’ series from the collection of Howard Hodgkin fetched a whopping Rs 9.5 crore in a sale by Sotheby’s. In the conversation, Yamini acknowledged the contribution of Bhupen as one of the founders of the narrative school of painting.

Here is Bhupen Khakhar’s De-Luxe Tailors :

Bhupen Khakhar’s De-Luxe Tailors

The upcoming auction at Sotheby’s will also have for sale a phenomenal painting of Apsara Tilottama by Raja Ravi Varma. This painting which was sold for 10,000 pounds in 1996 is expected to fetch somewhere between 600 to 800 thousand dollars in the auction.

Here is a picture of the work on Apsara Tilottama by Raja Ravi Varma:

Apsara Tilottama by Raja Ravi Varma

Yamini also talked about how the Modernists with their avante-garde aesthetics have made it back to the vogue now and with the revival, there is also a boom to be witnessed in the number of art collectors. The people have finally started getting acquainted with the artists and art instead of just hoarding the works now.

H/T: The Indian Express