This is a big step for the art market that has grown more than any other unorganised sector in India in the past five years. “To take on a field that had no prior financial credibility and transformation to something that everyone is looking at takes a lot of doing,” says the Osian’s director, Neville Tuli, who was the first to launch into the auction business in 1999.  

The Paris-based Raza was not available for comment, but Tuli explained that rarity was the key factor for their phenomenal pricing. The Swaminathan was up for sale in Sotheby’s in 2006 where it sold for Rs 1.6 crore. “Today it sold for Rs 3.1 crore which indicates that the masterpieces are appreciating greatly, the discerning buyers are able to compare and judge works for their quality and rarity which is an important factor world over.”

The auction shattered another myth that Bengal School art does not sell. “If all the papers proving the authenticity of the works are in place, there is no reason why it should not sell,” says Tuli, who auctioned off an Abanindranath Tagore 5x6 inch work for Rs 50 lakh. It’s a National Art Treasure and cannot even get bids from outside the country. “This also indicates the market is maturing,” he adds.

In comparison to the online portal Saffronart.com and international auction houses Christie’s and Sotheby’s, Osian’s strength has always been the Indian domestic buyer, for whom the Modern masters is what we sell the best. “Since Saffron sells through the internet, their huge corpus of buyers are NRIs, for Christie’s and Sotheby’s 60 to 70 per cent of their clientele are foreign investors whose focus is more on avant grade contemporary artists,” explains Tuli, who believes that such differentiation in client bases is important. 

Institutional buyers, like banks and their clients bring greater credibility. “When a corporate firm invests its money in art or suggests to its clients that this is a good place to invest, it adds a financial dimension to what was considered an aesthetic realm. Though right now the emphasis is on the economic aspect of art, slowly it will shift to a more critical and knowledge-based review of art,” says Tuli, about the current success of the auctions.