Ahead of Sotheby’s Boundless: India sale, Sotheby’s revealed the entire array of artworks to be offered in auction for the first time at a preview held at The Taj Mahal Hotel, Mumbai.
The intimate evening was hosted by the Directors of Sotheby’s and Sabira Merchant. Guests including Sabira Merchant, Saleem Merchant, Paresh Maity, Chaya Momaya, Sakti Burman, Anju Chulani, Gayatri Rangachari Shah, Jayasri Burman Raelle Padamsee, Pallavi Jaikishen, Poonam Soni and Devika Bhojwani to name a few, were seen appreciating the lots.
Headlining the preview was a never-before-seen painting by one of India’s most important modern abstract painters, Vasudeo S. Gaitonde which has been hanging in the home of actor and society doyenne, Sabira Merchant, for over 40 years. Another highlight at the preview was the estate of one of India’s most influential artists of the 20th-century, the late Bhupen Khakhar. Offered for sale for the very first time, these are the artworks he chose to keep with him throughout his life. Ranging from watercolour to oil, collage to ceramic, the selection showcases the full diversity of Bhupen’s artistic practice and is led by ‘Tiger and Stag’, last seen in the artist’s retrospectives at the National Gallery of Modern Art in Mumbai and Tate Modern in London.
Ishrat Kanga, Head of Sotheby’s Boundless: India sale, said“This sale tells the story of sixty years of art in India, from the onset of Modernism and the artists who emerged after the Raj, through to the boundary-breaking contemporary art being created today. Paintings, sculptures, photographs, architectural drawings and furniture by India’s most celebrated artists are presented side-by-side with those who are yet to become household names but have long deserved to have their moment in the spotlight. In recent years; gallerists, entrepreneurs, curators and auction houses have together revitalised and galvanised the art scene in India, yet – as this ‘boundless’ sale demonstrates – there is still so much more to discover and explore.”
