The end of November means it’s the season of high-stakes art. The past few weeks have been packed with auctions, openings and benefits. The flurry of activity started off with the annual Mumbai Art Room fundraiser — a non-profit curatorial space of which I am a trustee. Fellow trustee and my dear friend Roohi Jaikishan opened up her wonderful 100-year-old home to 60 people who came to support (and buy) a limited-edition Assurance Clock by the Delhi-based Raqs Media Collective. The gorgeous Monica Narula, one of the three artists in the collective, flew in from the capital to speak about the group’s work and, specifically, their fascination with time. I was drafted to moderate, but faced competition from an open bar, so kept the talk short and sweet.
A few days later it was on to auction house Pundoles and its fine arts sale. I was in the room when ace auctioneer Mallika Advani, looking resplendent in red, brought the hammer down on two Ram Kumar canvases from the 1960s for ₹48 and ₹40 lakh respectively — double the upper estimate. A Husain canvas, Horses , fetched ₹3.5 crore and another Untitled went for ₹2.6 crore. But what really surprised me was a marble sculpture by Adi Davierwalla, whom I confess I had never heard of, which sold for ₹42 lakh against an estimate of ₹8 to ₹12 lakh! “Who’s he?” whispered Dashing Dude. Thank God, I wasn’t the only ignoramus in the room. “No idea, but I’ll be sure to Google when I get home,” I whispered back.
The week closed with Saffronart’s talk with gallerist and former Christie’s India head, Amrita Jhaveri, but, of course, all eyes were on the global giant Sotheby’s first-ever India auction. This took place on Thursday. In the run up to the week, the suave Jai Danani hosted a dinner at home (best Thai green curry ever) for the artsy set. I spotted Ashwin Thadani of Gallery Isa across the room and went across to apologise profusely. I had committed to, but did not attend, a sit-down dinner to celebrate his gallery’s latest show, Lush Strokes — a beautifully-curated six-artist exhibit by Pujan Gandhi of the Minneapolis Institute of Art. My excuse for such bad behaviour was an early morning flight the next day to Delhi for a family wedding — I needed my beauty sleep. It sounded lame and I knew it.
At the Sotheby’s preview the following night, which was packed to the gills, I did a quick round of the art in between air kissing and waving. The news around its managing director of India going on leave pending #MeToo allegations notwithstanding, the Indian art market needed this auction to do well. My first stop was in front of Amrita Sher-Gil’s The Little Girl in Blue , a work that hadn’t been seen in public in 80 years. It sold for ₹18.69 crore. I also lingered over Tyeb Mehta’s iconic Durga Mahisasura Mardini (₹20.49 crore), Gaitonde’s 1962 Untitled , Arpita Singh’s Men Sitting, Men Standing (₹1.88 crore), the Pierre Jeanneret chairs, Louis Kahn’s drawings, and Souza’s rendering of St Paul’s Cathedral (₹1.88 crore).
But I could hear rumblings of irritation. “The Champagne is taking ages to arrive,” moaned Ms Dazzling Diva. “Yes, I’ve been waiting forever,” chimed in Mrs Social Star. Fifteen minutes earlier, I had spied a full bottle of Moët sitting neglectfully on a cocktail table. I turned to Mr Fat Wallet and asked if he thought the bottle was still there. Perhaps we could fetch it for our friends? “No chance babe, can’t you see how desperate everyone is? It would have been polished off long ago!” Apart from this hiccup, the evening was a success; the auction raised ₹55.40 crore .
This fortnightly column tracks the indulgent pursuits of the one-percenters.
