Rare works of Tyeb Mehta, S H Raza to go under hammer at Astaguru's auction

Rare artworks by eminent Indian modernists, including S H Raza, Tyeb Mehta, M F Husain and Krishen Khanna, will go under the hammer at AstaGuru's upcoming Modern Indian Art 'Collectors Choice' auction, starting Thursday.

The two-day auction, showcasing a collection of 164 artworks, will present bidders with masterpieces of some of the finest Indian modernists such as Nicholas Roerich, Rabindranath Tagore, Amrita Sher-Gil, M V Dhurandhar, F N Souza, Jamini Roy, Akbar Padamsee, Nandalal Bose, Arpita Singh and Bikash Bhattacharjee, among others.

Leading the 'Collectors Choice' auction line-up is a 1962 work by artist Tyeb Mehta, who was residing in London at that time, and was inspired by the works of British figurative painter Francis Bacon.

Executed with a heavy impasto technique and a restricted colour palette, the canvas features a lonely, isolated figure. It will be offered with an estimate of Rs 3-4 crore.

''Our 'Collectors Choice' edition has emerged to be one of the most anticipated auctions by the collectors. It has consistently garnered tremendous response due to the vastness and diversity of the collection offered,'' said Sunny Chandiramani, vice-president (client relations) at AstaGuru auction house.

''The 'No Reserve' format makes it more accessible for a larger collector base to participate in the auction since bidding starts at Rs 20,000. Several of these rare gems are appearing in an auction for the first time,'' he added.

Highlight of the auction is also a work by artist Arpita Singh, titled ''Counting Flowers: My Benares Saree''. Executed in 1997, it is an archetypal example of the artist's visual idiom, and colour composition, as well as the recurrent motifs seen in her works. It will be offered with an estimate of Rs 80 lakh – 1 crore.

S H Raza's signature style work 'Germination Red' (estimated at Rs 20-30 lakh) and M F Husain's 'Shankara' (estimated at Rs 80 lakh-1 crore) are also among the highlights of the auction.

''Executed circa 1961, Husain's work also featured in a monograph published by Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi, in 1961 titled 'Husain: Contemporary Indian Art Series' published by Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi,'' said the online auction house.

Making its debut in the auction is a 1940 work by one of India's navratna artists Nicholas Roerich.

Famously called the 'Master of Mountains', Roerich was pre-eminently a symbolic painter, one whose hues of sapphire and clandestine clouds of white will forever be etched as magnificent representations of the Himalayan range. It will be offered with an estimate of Rs 30-40 lakh.

Also, making it to the auction is a 1982 work by modernist Krishen Khanna. The figurative and architectural forms rendered in a limited palette showcase Khanna's mastery over the technicalities of painting. It is estimated to be acquired at Rs 80 lakh-1 crore.

The much-touted auction will also feature sculptures by noted artists, including Prodosh Das Gupta, Sankho Chaudhuri, Himmat Shah, Ram Kumar and K Laxma Goud.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)