LuxeBook December 2020

T he Art Market in 2020, the year of the great COVID 19 lockdowns, has shown remarkable resilience throughout these difficult times, despite the deferred art fairs, physical auctions and exhibitions. It has been a good market for established galleries and auction houses, but it has been an upward trek for mid-level players and the hardest for emerging players. Record sales Conducting online auctions has been something that global-Indian auction house Saffronart has been adept at ever since its launch in 2000. In September 2020 Saffronart reported a whopping sale of an Untitled 1974 Gaitonde at ` 35 cr —the second-highest price achieved for the artist for a work of Indian art in auction worldwide at Saffronart’s 300th auction ALIVE: An Evening Sale of Modern and Contemporary Art . It achieved a total sale ` 66.4 crores (USD 9.1 million). “The elite usually spend a lot of their disposable income on travel and expensive holidays and that has not been possible during the COVID lockdown. These funds have been diverted to purchasing art— which has always proved its worth as a good investment,” says Dinesh Vazirani, Director of Saffronart. Early this month, Prinseps hosted virtual auctions of the Bhanu Athaiya and Atul Bose Estates . Both auctions broke records for the highest value works sold for both artists. Hosted live on Zoom by auctioneer Brijeshwari Kumari Gohil, the two auctions saw bids from across India, Dubai, UK and the US. The Bhanu Athaiya Estate Bhavna Kakar and Waswo X Waswo at Latitude 28 during his solo show ‘We Are Always Working’ Sale auction totalled ` 88 lakhs and the Atul Bose Evening Sale totalled ` 1.64 crores. Athaiya’s Prayers was sold for ` 43 lakhs. Atul Bose’s Studio Corner, a 1926 oil on canvas, went under the hammer for ` 43 lakhs, almost ` 20 lakhs over the upper estimate. “Prinseps created records for Bose and Athaiya, both first time artists in the auction circuit. This goes to show that there is a healthy appetite for well documented, historically significant, high quality artworks,” says Indrajit Chatterjee, Founder of Prinseps. Galleries go online The galleries that support the primary market have been coming together through online formats like In Touch and TAP, featuring the leading names in the circuit. “The art market has continued to be strong during these challenging times. In fact, we have seen a surge of new collectors during lockdown, and seasoned collectors are also continuing to buy. Perhaps, this is because people are spending a lot more time at home and want to be surrounded by good art! Most galleries are reporting good sales,” says Roshini Vadehra of Vadehra Art Gallery. On the other hand, however, many art fairs and live auctions are cancelled, and galleries must continue to innovate their digital approach to connect with their collectors. “We have started physical exhibitions at the gallery but at a slower space,” adds Vadhera. In August, Latitude 28 was the first gallery to hold a physical exhibition titled ‘We Are Always Working’, featuring works of Waswo “The elite usually spend a lot of their disposable income on travel and expensive holidays and that has not been possible during the COVID lockdown. These funds have been diverted to purchasing art—which has always proved its worth as a good investment” Tyeb Mehta, Kali, (Mahesh Asuramardini) from Saffronart 18| L U X E B O O K | D E C E MB E R 2 0 2 0 D E C E MB E R 2 0 2 0 | L U X E B O O K | 19