PRESS RELEASE | November 2015 | FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CHRISTIE’S 3RD INDIA SALE TO OFFER INDIAN ART FROM 10TH TO 21ST CENTURY

PUBLIC PREVIEW EXHIBITION TO OPEN IN NEW DELHI ON 28 NOV

SYED HAIDER RAZA’S BINDU IS ONE OF AUCTION’S HIGHLIGHTS

SYED HAIDER RAZA (B. 1922), Bindu, painted in 1983. Estimate: INR10,00,00,000-15,00,00,000 - US$1,500,000-2,300,000

Mumbai – Following the announcement that Christie’s third auction to be held in Mumbai on 15 December at the Taj

Mahal Palace Hotel will include a section dedicated to Classical Indian Art, the leading auction house is pleased to

announce that a monumental painting by Syed Haider Raza (b. 1922) titled Bindu from 1983, will be one of the

highlights of its Modern and Contemporary Indian Art section.

A total of 100 works will be offered throughout the evening sale, and a selection of highlights will be travelling to New

Delhi to be on public display from Saturday 28 to Monday 30 November at the Taj Mahal Hotel. Following Christie’s

New York auction of Modern + Contemporary South Asian Art this September, where the world auction record for any

modern Indian work of art sold at auction was set when Francis Newton Souza’s Birth sold for US$4,085,000, Christie’s

third India Sale will include works sourced from important private and corporate collections.

In addition to modern masterpieces by Syed Haider Raza, Vasudeo S. Gaitonde, Tyeb Mehta, Maqbool Fida Husain and

Ram Kumar, the auction also includes important works by artists Jehangir Sabavala, Jagdish Swaminathan, Jogen

Chowdhury, Manjit Bawa, Meera Mukherjee, Nasreen Mohamedi, Bhupen Khakhar, Gulam Mohammed Sheikh and

Bharti Kher. The catalogue also features works by Nandalal Bose, Abanindranath Tagore and Gaganendranath Tagore,

who are designated ’National Treasure’ artists, which means their works cannot be exported from India, besides the

Classical Indian Art section of the sale.

“Christie’s commitment to India has grown over the past three years and the offering of Classical Indian Art for the

first time in India is part of this development plan. It will allow us to engage and advise and bring our experience and

professionalism to this additional segment of the art market in India. We also are delighted to see Credit Suisse’s

continued support for Indian art, and together, we are looking forward to welcome existing and new clients as well as

art lovers to our two preview exhibitions in New Delhi and Mumbai”, stated William Robinson, International Head of

World Art.

Mihir Doshi, Managing Director and CEO of Credit Suisse, India said: “Credit Suisse is delighted to be partnering with

Christies in India. This is our third consecutive year of collaborating with Christies to bring the best of Indian art to

clients, investors and collectors. It underlines our commitment to the Indian market and our support of the arts within

the communities in which we are present.”

Syed Haider Raza, now aged 93, is known as a master colourist and a founder member of the post-Independence

Bombay based Progressive Artists’ Group, created in 1947. Bindu was painted in 1983 (illustrated front page), a key

moment in Raza’s 40-year-long association with the Indian aesthetics and geometric abstraction. The work is

estimated at INR 10,00,00,000-15,00,00,000 or $1.5-2.3 million and was acquired directly from the artist by the

present owner and this is the first time it is being offered at auction. Bindu demonstrates the shift in Raza’s style from

expressionist to geometric abstraction, and the bindu itself represents the primordial seed of nothingness from which

all creation is believed to be born. Although it is the principal around which the artist structures his canvas, this circle

or bindu is less a graphical component and more the central point representing concentrated potential energy.

Manjit Bawa’s (1941-2008) Untitled (Krishna) oil on canvas was

painted in the 1990s and will be offered with an estimate of INR

2,50,00,000-3,00,00,000. Bawa's paintings demonstrate a preference

for economy of line and form over narrative, where extraneous detail

is eliminated in favour of bold contour and monochromatic brilliant

backdrops of pure horizon-less space. The influence of classical Indian

artistic tradition is evident both in Bawa's poise and palette. With an

almost sardonic simplicity, Bawa conjures a window into another

world, revealing a realm of imagination, myth, mysticism and magic.

The motif of the violet musical virtuoso suggests the god Krishna,

traditionally depicted playing his melodious flute as his cows graze

nearby. With only his torso visible, his eyes glance upward unerringly

to the heavens. Bawa's painting creates a seductive reality where

gods, men and beasts live in perennial peace in this enchanted

empire. Hovering above his sacred bovine companion, the two

fractured figures are unified through shimmering shades of pink

found atop the beast's brow, as if reflecting in the light of his divine

master.

The Casuarina Line II by Jehangir Sabavala (1922-2011), painted in 2002 is estimated at INR 1,20,00,000-1,80,00,000

and has been acquired by the present owner directly from the artist. Another work that has been sourced privately

and offered for the first time at auction. This painting

was exhibited as part of a major retrospective of the

artist’s work at the National Gallery of Modern Art in

New Delhi and Mumbai in 2005-06. The Casuarina

Line II is part of a series of three works that explores

the effects of changing light on the land and sea at

various points in the diurnal cycle. This particular

canvas offers a dazzling sunset view of the

uninhabited sandbar at the horizon that features in

each of the works. Sandwiched between the sky and

the ocean, both lit up in brilliant shades of orange and

vermillion by the setting sun, this small peninsula is populated only by a group of casuarina or ironwood trees, which

merge into a single entity in front of the golden orb. Evolving from detailed studies in the artist’s sketch books, his

landscapes are complex constructions based on meticulous linear schema. Their horizontals and verticals, points of

focus and perspective, divide and define the picture plane, bestowing the image with a sense of structure. This ‘map’

is then brought to life by the artist’s nuanced palette, which effortlessly negotiates entire families of tones and micro-

tones to give rise to vistas that are at once restrained and emotionally charged.

Vasudeo S. Gaitonde’s radiant painting from 1995, Untitled maintains a

delicate balance of light, texture, colour and space, imbuing his work with a

unique lyricism and luminosity. For the artist the physical act of painting his

canvases was meticulous and precise, and it was the formulation of the

concept, the incubation and propagation of the painting as an idea in his own

consciousness that absorbed his attention and time. With its virtually

imperceptible gradations of gold and ochre pigments with blue highlights, and

its enigmatic hieroglyphic forms that seem to spontaneously emerge from and

disappear under the glimmering surface, this canvas provokes new discoveries

with each viewing. This painting was one of the last completed in Gaitonde's

small barsaati or terrace studio in Nizamuddin, before he moved to Gurgaon

in 1996, and features prominently in the only film made on the artist, Art on

Art, in 1995. It is offered with an estimate of INR 12,00,00,000-15,00,00,000.

Gaitonde was not a prolific painter, completing only five or six deeply

considered canvases a year.

Since his early years as an artist, Tyeb Mehta has used the canvas to express

images that illustrate the struggles of contemporary society, and to reflect his

own disillusionment with the world around him. Executed in 1981, Untitled

(Two Figures) maintains remnants of the diagonal line that marked Mehta’s

paintings of the 1970s. However, here the figures are allowed to exist in their

entirety, without the transversal split that allowed them to adopt different

forms on each side of the diagonal, giving Mehta the flexibility to explore

different means of representation in a single painting. While the segmentation

of the canvas is still evident in the background, it has become less obtrusive,

demonstrating a maturing of the artist’s style. This important work in the

artist’s oeuvre is offered with an estimate of INR 5,00,00,000-7,00,00,000.

At the heart of the miniature paintings

selection within the Classical Art sale is a

group that comes directly from the ancestral

collections of the Maharajas of Bikaner. Very

well preserved by the dry desert air, these

are a reminder of how cosmopolitan Bikaner

was in its heyday. Not only does the group

include typical elegant depictions of Krishna

and palace life, but also two paintings that

clearly illustrate the direct influence of

Golconda (present day Hyderabad) in the

Deccan. The group also contains two fanciful

depictions of Europeans that relate closely

to those painted on the ceilings of the Phool

Mahal in the Fort of Bikaner (estimates range from INR 2,00,000-12,00,000). Due to their age, none of the works in

this section of the sale may be exported from India. Other paintings in this section include a charming Golconda-style

painting of Two Courtly Ladies by Bihari and painted around 1700 (estimate: INR 5,00,000-7,00,000), there is also a

double portrait of Sultan Muhammad ‘-Adil Shah of Bijapur with his Minister Ikhlas Khan, this time dated 1748/1691

AD (estimate: INR 6,00,000-8,00,000) and a fine equestrian portrait of Maharaja Kumar Sri Rai Singh as a young prince

by the artist Abu Hamid, again from Bikaner and this time dated VS 1811/1754 AD and estimated at INR 4,00,000-

6,00,000.

One of the most important works of art offered in the classical section of the sale is a buff

sandstone figure of the dancing Ganesha, the lovable and mischievous elephant-headed

deity. The theme of the dancing Ganesha captivated the sculptors of Central India,

resulting in the production of some of the liveliest

examples between the 8th and 11th centuries. This

Ganesha, from Madhya Pradesh in the 10th century, is

carved with voluptuous form as well as a sense of

joyful elegance and agility. This signature piece of the

sale is amongst the finest of its type (estimate: INR

60,00,000-70,00,000 illustrated right). The sculpture

section also contains a magnificent life-size early Chola

granite figure of dvarapala formerly in the collection of

the award-winning bharata natyam dancer Yamini

Krishnamuthi, who’s devotion to art, dance and philosophy are well-known

(estimate: INR 1,20,00,000-1,20,00,000). An elegant bronze figure of Parvati, a

Chola-period statue made in Tamil Nadu in the 12th century, will also be among the

key pieces with an estimate of INR20,00,000-25,00,000 (illustrated next page).

This extended sale offering commemorates the 20th anniversary of Christie’s presence in India. By including classical

art in Christie’s third India Sale, the company will lend its international standards to this burgeoning domestic market.

PRESS CONTACT:

Alexandra Kindermann |Zurich | + 41 79 101 4196 | akindermann@christies.com

About Christie’s and Indian Art:

2015 marks the 20th consecutive year of Christie’s selling South Asian Modern and Contemporary art

Christie’s has a presence in India since 1994

Christie’s are the only international auctioneers to hold sales regularly in India

The Indian Art specialist team is based in Mumbai, New York and London

Christie’s holds the record for the most expensive Modern Indian work of art sold at auction: Francis Newton Souza’s Birth sold for $4,085,000 in September 2015

In the September 2015 South Asian Modern + Contemporary sale in New York, 44% of lots were either sold or directly underbid by collectors on the internet.

Christie’s hold the world auction records for works by Francis Newton Souza, Vasudeo S. Gaitonde, Tyeb Mehta, Syed Haider Raza, Maqbool Fida Husain and many other artists

The 2014 auction in Mumbai was 97% sold

In 2015, Christie’s will include Classical Art in its annual India Sale.

EXHIBITIONS NEW DELHI – AT THE TAJ MAHAL HOTEL MUMBAI – AT THE TAJ MAHAL PALACE HOTEL Number One Mansingh Road Saturday 12 December – 10.00am to 6.00pm Saturday 28 November – 10.00am to 6.00pm Sunday 13 December – 10.00am to 8.00pm Sunday 29 November – 10.00am to 8.00pm Monday 14 December – 10.00am to 8.00pm Monday 30 November – 10.00am to 4.00pm Tuesday 15 December – 10.00am to 12.00pm AUCTION IN MUMBAI AT THE TAJ MAHAL PALACE HOTEL Tuesday 15 December at 7.00pm About Christie’s Christie’s, the world's leading art business, had global auction and private sales in the first half of 2015 that totalled £2 .9 billion / $4.5 billion. In 2014, Christie’s had global auction and private sales that totalled £5.1 billion/$8.4 billion, making it the highest annual total in Christie’s history. Christie’s is a name and place that speaks of extraordinary art, unparalleled service and expertise, as well as international glamour. Founded in 1766 by James Christie, Christie's has since conducted the greatest and most celebrated auctions through the centuries providing a popular showcase for the unique and the beautiful. Christie’s offers around 450 auctions annually in over 80 categories, including all areas of fine and decorative arts, jewellery, photographs, collectibles, wine, and more. Prices range from $200 to over $100 million. Christie's also has a long and successful history conducting private sales for its clients in all categories, with emphasis on Post-War & Contemporary, Impressionist & Modern, Old Masters and Jewellery. Christie’s has a global presence with 54 offices in 32 countries and 12 salerooms around the world including in London, New York, Paris, Geneva, Milan, Amsterdam, Dubai, Zürich, Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Mumbai. More recently, Christie’s has led the market with expanded initiatives in growth markets such as Russia, China, India and the United Arab Emirates, with successful sales and exhibitions in Beijing, Mumbai and Dubai.

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