Rare unseen works by Gaitonde, Bhupen Khakhar to go under hammer at Saffronart sale

A 1982 untitled artwork by V S Gaitonde painted during the peak of his career, will go under the hammer at Saffronart's upcoming live evening sale on Modern Indian Art on September 12, ahead of the auction house's 20th anniversary. The green oil painting that represents the artist's precise, deliberate technique, is estimated at Rs 20 - 30 crores.

Gaitonde's work is among the 68 lots that will feature at the sale. A large never-before-seen 1986 work by Bhupen Khakhar titled "Tradesman" is another highlight of the sale.

Belonging to a period when the artist portrayed the everyman through a complex yet compassionate artistic vocabulary, the painting is estimated at Rs 3.25 - 4.25 crores. The oil on canvas painting is being auctioned for the first time, and is a rare piece for collectors of the visionary artist, who is finally receiving long overdue recognition.

An unusual untitled work by K H Ara from the 1940s will also be up for grabs. The composition is based on human studies or everyday situations in society, and is estimated at Rs 20 - 30 lakhs.

"The artist's early paintings of this period were, in many ways, a socio-political commentary of sorts that captured the pulse of a newly independent India - a sentiment that was shared by his contemporaries and fellow co-founders of the Bombay-based Progressive Artists' Group," the auction house said in a statement on Thursday.

Six works by eminent artist Ram Kumar, who passed away in April 2018, including his famous paintings of Benares and Leh will also be part of the auction, as will be distinctive and striking sculptures by Pilloo Pochkhanawala, Ramkinkar Baij, K G Subramanyan, and Jyoti Bhatt.

"The Evening Sale features rare works by V S Gaitonde, K H Ara and Ram Kumar, as well as a previously unseen, significant painting by Bhupen Khakhar. "The curated selection explores a turning point in the trajectory of modern Indian art, celebrating the aesthetic and visual vocabulary of artists including Kumar and K G Subramanyan, who have passed away in recent years," Minal Vazirani, Saffronart President and Co-Founder, said.

The auction will take place at The Oberoi in New Delhi here.

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