Modern & Contemporary South Asian Art At Sotheby's
Sotheby’s New York sale of Modern & Contemporary South Asian Art on 25 March 2011 will be led by one of the most important paintings by a modern Indian painter ever to have appeared on the market - Akbar Padamsee’s Untitled (Reclining Nude) which carries an auction estimate of $500/700,000. It was acquired by the current owners from the artist over 50 years ago and has never before appeared at auction. Sotheby’s presented the painting to collectors at the recent Indian Art Summit in New Delhi- the first time it had been returned to India since 1960 (see separate release). In addition to the Padamsee the masters of modern Indian painting are well represented in the auction, with major works by MF Husain, SH Raza, Ram Kumar, Krishen Khanna and Jagdish Swaminathan among others.
Further highlights of the sale include a group of Bengal School paintings by Rabindranath, Abanindranath, Gaganendranath Tagore and Jamini Roy centered by Rabindranath Tagore’s famous Death Scene which was once in the collection of Mildred and William Archer (est. $200/250,000). Two other important paintings in this group are a rendition of Rabindranath lying in state by Abanindranath Tagore, a very rare portrayal of this scene; and a portrait of Mahatma Gandhi by artist Jamini Roy executed in his early, Impressionist style brush. There are also significant contemporary works by artists such as Ravinder Reddy, Subodh Gupta, T. V. Santhosh, Reena Kallat and Bharti Kher among others.
