Sotheby’s serenades
See some greats, consider catching an auction online, and begin to look at art as something personal
For an auction house that has a grand heritage dating back to 1744, Sotheby’s is surprisingly agile, equipped as it is with an app and the facility of accessing any auction they conduct, and bidding from anywhere in the world. So while its Modern & Contemporary South Asian Art New York Sale is to take place on March 18 in America (the exhibition opens March 14), we get a preview in India, of what’s in store. There are unseen works by M. F. Hussain, Anish Kapur, Ram Kumar, Steve McCurry, Henri Cartier Bresson and more
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New-York-based Manjari Sihare-Sutin, who heads sales, in the Modern & Contemporary South Asian Art division tells us how Indian art has found its place in America. It’s all about an emotional connect, a personal experience, not just an asset. “It’s the best way to collect; you want to live with,” she says. “That’s what the post-2008 crash has done for the market. It has filtered it of the speculators, and kept those who really love art.”
She sees three types of clients: Indians based here, NRIs who want a slice of their heritage, and international buyers who buy into this category because of a connection with the country. She tells the story of an American couple who celebrated their honeymoon in India, named their daughter after the country, and began collecting Indian art.
Sometimes, brief encounters can become collector moments. “The artist Raghubir Singh shot India through an Ambassador car. When a client visited, they travelled all around in an Ambassador taxi and that was their memory of India. They started collecting from there,” she says. Visit the preview and let the art speak to you. And if you can’t make it to NY, there’s always the app.
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At: The Leela Palace, February 16, 12 noon to 3 p.m.