Modern Talking

There were high hopes of a new record for Rameshwar Broota at the Spring session of the Saffronart Auction,an online auction that ended on March 17. There were also expectations that Contemporaries like Shibu Natesan would make a comeback in the auction circuit. But the results show that it is the Moderns like SH Raza and FN Souza who still dominate the auctions. The highest bid was Rs 1.85 crore for an early work by Raza titled Tanava while Souza’s The King sold for Rs 96.14 lakh and Subodh Gupta’s untitled canvas went for Rs 92.09 lakh. “The prices at this auction proved that the market is steady with a clear focus on Modern masters,” says Dinesh Vazirani director of Saffronart.

The auction,which allowed mobile phone bidding for the first time,registered 65 per cent sales,a dip of five percent from the previous auction held in winter. “This is because the focus was on the Asia market at this auction,and the tsunami in Japan resulted in a downturn in markets. After the tsunami,people are buying cautiously,” adds

Vazirani.