Osian’s – Connoisseurs of Art Pvt. Ltd., India’s leading auction house and archive, announced that its next auction of modern & contemporary Indian art will be held at New Delhi on 15 December 2011. This auction will focus on renowned artists from Bengal and will be the first in the ‘Creative India Series’ of four auctions planned over the next few months. The forthcoming auction would be the largest collection of artists from a single region. The Opening Preview for the auction would be held at New Delhi on Friday 9th December 2011 at the venue of Osian’s forthcoming museum on art and film - The Osianama at The Kila.
The auction includes artworks by the early 19th century anonymous Bengal-based artists in the traditional miniature tradition who initiated the use of oil on canvas by Indian artists to our famous National Art Treasures such as the Tagores – Abanindranath, Gaganendranath & Rabindranath, Nandalal Bose, Jamini Roy to other great masters such as Ananda Prasad Bagchi, Sarada C. Ukil, J.P. Ganguly, Hemendranath Mazumdar, D.P. Roy Chowdhury, Chintamoni Kar, Chittaprosad, Nikhil Biswas, Somnath Hore, Shyamal Dutta Ray, Ganesh Pyne, among many others. The artworks featured in the auction cover the period 1780 to 2000 beginning with the 18th century European artists-cum printmakers.
The Creative India Series of auctions would be in four editions and each will essentially focus on artists from the main art centers such as Bengal; Bombay & Baroda; Delhi and Lahore; Cholamandal & South India.
This would be Osian’s first public auction after a gap of 18 months and this series is expected to renew the interest and confidence in the art market after last few years of depressed sentiments, similar to those in most other asset classes. The knowledge and archival information which Osian’s has always excelled at presenting, is once again evident in the aesthetic, archival and academic quality of the auction catalogue.
Commenting on the market sentiment, Mr. Neville Tuli, Founder & Chairman of Osian’s mentioned that, “the loss of focus on artistic historical significance as the key parameter in the pricing and valuation of artworks has been one of the main reasons for the slump in the Indian art market. This has been further compounded by the overall weakness in economic conditions and the ongoing infrastructural bottlenecks. Of course, the failure of timely redemptions by art funds, including the Osian’s Art Fund further contributed to the crisis in confidence. Yet, the failure is not in the art object itself but in the inadequacy of the system that so far supports our artistic and cultural heritage from emerging as a major developmental force. The last 15 years has seen significant new platforms built but these next ten years will actually see the institutional superstructures emerge, which in turn will give credibility to the whole system and the industry of art and its related services and values on a global scale’.
