Following a landmark Spring season that established a new global auction record for a work of modern Indian painting with Raja Ravi Varma’s ‘Yashoda and Krishna’, Saffronart returns with its summer online auction to be held on June 15-16. Following this closely on the heels will be AstaGuru’s ‘Collector’s Choice’, which is taking place on June 22-23.
Saffronart Auction Highlights
Drawn from Indian and international private collections, the Saffronart catalogue features 130 works by leading modern and contemporary artists. Among the highlights of the catalogue is Jagdish Swaminathan’s celebrated ‘Bird, Mountain, Tree’ series, one of the artist’s most accomplished and philosophically layered bodies of work. Also featured is a striking composition by Manjit Bawa, reflecting his distinctive visual language shaped by fluid figuration and luminous colours, alongside a major work from Krishen Khanna’s iconic Bandwalla series.
The sale also includes a group of works from a distinguished private collection in the United States, featuring important paintings by NS Bendre, MF Husain, FN Souza, and Ganesh Pyne. A highlight of the catalogue is a special section devoted to works and archival material from FN Souza’s Studio. Bringing together important works on paper and personal studio objects — including the artist’s easel, palettes, painting smock, projector, and reference materials — the collection offers a rare and intimate insight into Souza’s creative world.
AstaGuru Auction Highlights
AstaGuru’s online auction features paintings, sculptures, and works on paper by Raja Ravi Varma, Husain, Souza, K H Ara, J Swaminathan, Sakti Burman, Ram Kumar, Himmat Shah, Satish Gujral, Hemendranath Mazumdar, Jogen Chowdhury, KG Subramanyan, Dhanraj Bhagat, Ganesh Pyne, Rameshwar Broota, and many others. A notable highlight of the auction is a remarkable group of 22 sketches by master artist MV Dhurandhar, one of the most influential figures in the history of Indian academic art.
Themes of Labour and the Working Body
A powerful thread running through the auction is the representation of labour and the working body. Vivan Sundaram’s ‘The Carpenter & His Wife’, Bhagat’s monumental ‘Standing Figure’ and Broota’s ‘Scripted in Time II’ elevate workers and anonymous figures into subjects of profound social and philosophical significance. Together, these works demonstrate how Indian artists transformed labour into a central modernist concern.
Formative and Transitional Works
The auction offers a rare opportunity to examine formative and transitional works by some of India’s most celebrated modernists. It highlights works created at pivotal moments in the careers of four major artists. From Sundaram’s final phase of figurative painting before his move into installation and Jogen Chowdhury’s early dream imagery, to Husain’s engagement with music and classical traditions and Swaminathan’s mature exploration of tribal cosmologies, these works capture artists refining the ideas that would come to define their legacies.
