MF Hussain gets highest bids at art auction

Zee Media Bureau

New Delhi: Art Bull hosted its 4th season of the auction, `Pre-Independence, Modern & Contemporary Masters` on Feb 22nd at ITC Maurya, New Delhi. Out of the 47 of 85 high-value art works by various masters late artist M F Hussain`s work got some of the highest bids in the auction. Celebrated faces like John Eliot Gardiner, Meenakshi Khanna, Sohail Chawla, Meena Verma, Priyanka Meera, Riya Gandhi, Shibani Chawla, Mr. & Mrs. Vishal Seth, Vijaylakshmi Dogra, Dolly Narang, Kunwar Pragy Arya, Mrs. Uma Jain & Uday Jain from Dhoomimal gallery and many other prominent gallerists of Delhi and prominent artists like Sanjay Bhattacharya and Shridhar Iyer graced the 4th session of the auction with their presence. Top Sellers at the 4th Session of the auction were Untitled Painting Horse, Oil on Canvas, Late 1970’s by MF.Husain for Rs 69.39 Lacks; Kundalini Painting, Acrylic on Canvas, b.1922 by Syed Haider Raza for Rs 80.30 Lakhs. and Untitled Painting, Oil on Canvas, 1921-2006 by Somnath Hore for Rs 26.95 Lakhs. Art works by Sanjay Bhattacharya and Sculptures by B Prabha also created a stir in the room, on the floor & by telephone bidders. The only artwork of the folk n tribal artist also fetched a reasonable bid. Speaking about the 4th session of the auction Siddhartha Tagore, Director, Bid Art Bull Pvt. Ltd, said, “Over the last few years there has been a shift in the buying pattern. The recession and the post recession period have made the buyer wiser. At Art Bull we value our associations with each and every collector and like every time the practice helped us to present you all with a whole new 4th session featuring rare and high-value art works by various masters. After the blockbusting, $691m sale of contemporary art at Christie’s in New York in November, with its record high prices – $142.4m for a Bacon, $58.4m for a Koons – art adviser Abigail Asher declared: “It’s a new world: it feels like a reinvention of the art market. I’m overwhelmed.” Art works (paintings & sculptures) of the following masters got auctioned at the 4th session of Art Bull auction (Pre-Independence, Modern & Contemporary Masters) of the following artist:- Pre Bengal: Rama Varma (High Value work) & Hemendranath Mazumdar (High Value work). Bengal School: Abani Sen, Abanindranath Tagore, Abdur Rahman Chughtai, Bireshwar Sen, Chittaprosad Bhattacharya, Devi Prasad Roy Chowdhury, Jamini Roy, Manishi Dey, Nandalal Bose (High Value work), Nikhil Biswas, Pradosh Dasgupta, Rabindranath Tagore (High Value work), Sarada Charan Ukil, Somnath Hore, Sudhir Khastagir, Arup Das and Ganesh Pyne Progressive & Masters: Syed Haider Raza (High Value work), Francis Newton Souza (High Value work), Maqbool Fida Husain (High Value work), Hari Ambadas Gade, Ram Kumar, George Keyt (High Value work), Ghulam Rasool Santosh, Jagdish Swaminathan, Manjit Bawa, Narayan Shridhar Bendre, Kattingeri Krishna Hebbar, Krishna Shamrao Kulkarni, Anil Karanjai, Kalal Laxma Goud, B. Prabha, Amarnath Sehgal and Badrinath Arya Contemporary Masters: Badri Narayan, Haku Shah, Lalu Prasad Shaw, Manish Pushkale, Manu Parekh, Meera Mukherjee, Paresh Maity, Paritosh Sen, Rameshwar Broota, Reena Saini Kallat, Sakti Burman, Sanjay Bhattacharya, Subodh Gupta, Suhas Roy, Thota Vaikuntam and Arpana Caur. Contemporary Folk Art Masters: Jangarh Singh Shyam