MODERN INDIANWORKS BACK AT CHRISTIE’S HONG KONG AFTER 15 YEARS

HONG KONG AUCTIONS EMBRACE WORKS BY  S.H.RAZA, M.F.HUSAIN, F.N.SOUZA, RAM KUMAR, AKBAR PADAMSEE & J.SWAMINATHAN

SYED HAIDER RAZA (1922-2016), Gestation, 1989. Estimate: HK$10,000,000-15,000,000 ($1,250,000-1,900,000)

by Najuka G

Hong Kong - Modern Indian Art will be part of the Hong Kong autumn sale season for the first time in 15 years this November and offered in the Asian 20th Century & Contemporary Art sales on 24 & 25 November. The leading Indian Modernists showcased in the auctions are S.H. Raza, M.F. Husain, F.N. Souza and Ram Kumar alongside Akbar Padamsee and Jagdish Swaminathan, among others.

Sonal Singh, Senior Specialist and Christie’s Head of India, commented: “Concluding our annual sales of South Asian Modern + Contemporary Art held this year across New York and London, Christie’s will be offering a selection of exceptional works in our Hong Kong auction room this autumn, a return for the category after 15 years. Over the past years, we have seen continuously growing interest from Asian collectors in this category. Traditionally, Hong Kong was a venue for our sales and given the consistent results and growing demand for South Asian Modern Masters, we are very excited to add another sale venue to our annual auction calendar by bringing exceptional pieces to the collectors of this region”.

The sale is led by Syed Haider Raza’s Gestation painted in 1989, following Raza’s return to India after he had traveled the world and lived in France for more than 50 years. This painting is an iconic signature piece from the height of the artist’s career when he began to use the elemental form of the bindu framing it into complex arrangements of geometrical shapes and primary colours(estimate: HK$10,000,000-15,000,000 /$1,250,000-1,900,000).

Another highlight of the sale is F.N. Souza’s Untitled (Landscape), painted in 1962 during a period of intense experimentation while Souza was living in Hampstead, North London. This dynamic and vibrant composition captures the tension and exaltation the artist was experiencing at that time, a watershed moment in Souza’s life and artistic path (estimate: HK$2,400,000-4,000,000 / $310,000-510,000). Souza founded the Progressive Artists’ Group in Bombay on the eve of India’s Independence in 1947 along with fellow artists Husain, Raza, Ara, Gade and Bakre. Rejecting academic realism and romantic nostalgia, these artists looked towards Indian folk art, classical painting and sculpture, and combined them with western styles and techniques to create a unique mode of expression for a new, modern art for India.