First Major Contemporary Indian Art Auction in Paris By Francis C. Assisi

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After having organized the very successful first sales of contemporary Chinese art, Artcurial of France will hold the first auction in France dedicated to modern and contemporary Indian art on Monday 3 December 2007. There will be about 80 lots under the hammer. The total estimated value of the sale is pegged at euro 1.3 million ($1.8 million). The highest priced work in the sale is an untitled SH Raza valued at euro 450,000-550,000.

The sale is part of Artcurial's strategic interest in Asian art and inaugurates a department devoted to modern and contemporary Indian art. This first sale is meant to be both modest and ambitious – modest for its commitment to a representative choice of still affordable modern and contemporary works, and ambitious for its determination to present major works that are both rare and exceptional.

Herve Perdriolle, Indian art consultant at Artcurial says: “After successfully entering the Chinese market with two auctions of contemporary Chinese art, Artcurial is now ready to focus on the Indian art market and is planning to stage two auctions per year.

“We have decided to start the Indian sale now considering the growing interest among French collectors in this field for more than a year now. This strong and deep interest is illustrated by several important events like the Indian Summer in Paris in 2005 and Lille 3000 in 2006 to name a few. In step, we know of the famous relationship between Subodh Gupta and Francois Pinault. Pinault, the French billionaire and collector, has been picked by ArtReview as among the 100 most influential people in the international contemporary art world.”

Art lovers and professionals will have the opportunity to discover work by young artists who have just had their very first one-person show in both prestigious and experimental galleries from Mumbai to New Delhi, such as Farhad Hussain.

Farhad Hussain, born in Calcutta in 1975, is among those young artists who have been contributing with panache to the current renewal of contemporary Indian art. One of his works was recently published on the cover of Asian Art News (the Sept./Oct. 2007 issue), one of the two most influential magazines that cover contemporary art in Asia – a market that ranges from India to China, from Singapore to Hong Kong. Paintings by Farhad Hussain have the direct, fresh gaiety of a Matisse cutout, and the nuclear family his iconographic focus. These paintings could be family photos taken by a Walt Disney in the throes of a psychedelic episode. The illusion of happiness is omnipresent, the ecstatic atmosphere redolent of “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” family-style.

The work of artists born in the 50’s and 60’s will also be represented, such as the emblematic and spectacular photograph by Anita Dube that offers ceramic eyes – the same eyes used to give life to innumerable sculptures of Indian divinities.

The artistic maturity of the generation of artists now between 45 and 55 years of age will also be represented by a superb, enigmatic watercolor on paper by Atul Dodiya, another major figure in contemporary Indian art. Dodiya’s watercolor combines the perfection of two apparently opposed qualities – fluidity and precision. His work reminds us that the watercolor medium, a cultural heritage from England but also influenced by the Chinese and Japanese traditions, has become a significant part of Indian art that constantly evolves both in terms of pictorial innovation and a widening range of themes that include all conceivable subjects, including the political. Thus, modernity and tradition combine to give birth to a shared achievement.

Photography also plays an important part in this catalogue. For several years the Indian photography market has been evolving, encouraged by the international art market's feverish enthusiasm for the medium. Some investors and collectors have turned to photography, more affordable than painting, sculpture, and installations, even for works by a master such as Raghu Rai. They see an opportunity to support an art that is by nature more realistic and thus more accessible. Collectors say that the medium appears to be developing an increasingly introspective mood, presenting a chronicle of the contradictions and changes of modern India.

Finally, the sale will be an opportunity to discover exceptional works executed by some of the most respected “Masters”, such as Jagdish Swaminathan, Prakbar Barwe, Jogen Chowdhury, Viswanadhan, Francis Newton Souza, and Akbar Padamsee as well as the renowned Sayed Haider Raza, whose work is currently being exhibited in a major retrospective in New York City.

Artists included in the auction:

Indra Dugar, Haren Das, Jamini Roy, K. S. Kulkarni, F. N. Souza, Sayed Haider Raza, Akbar Padamsee, Rabin Mondal, G. R. Santosh, Prabhakar Barwe, Viswanadhan, Jogen Chowdhury, Jeram Patel, Jyoti Bhatt, Sakti Burman, Sohan Qadri, Amitava, Shooba Broota, Arpana Caur, Thota Vaikuntam, Raghu Rai, Jivya Soma Mashe, Pushpa Kumari, Atul Dodiya, Uday Shanbhag, Subba Ghosh, Vivek Vilasani, Ravi Agarwal, Naveen Kishore, Binoy Varghese, Roy Thomas, Mithu Sen, Shibu Natesan, Bose Krishnamachari, Anita Dube, Barmak Akram, Debesh Goswami, Prakbar Kolte, Manish Pushkale, Anju Chaudhuri, Farhad Hussain, Riyas Komu, Surekha, Baba Anand, Rahul Mukherjee, Bari Kumar, Sunil Gupta, Manjunath Kamath, Gauri Gill, and Ram Rehaman.