Sotheby's To Auction Art Works on Behalf of Kolkata Museum of Modern Art

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Sotheby's To Auction Works on Behalf of Kolkata Museum

 

NEW YORK, N.Y.- On July 17, 2007, Sotheby's will hold an

auction of modern and contemporary Indian works of art on

behalf of the Kolkata Museum of Modern Art (KMOMA),

Kolkata, India (formerly Calcutta), with the majority of the

proceeds going to benefit the Museum project. The sale will

feature 84 lots of modern and contemporary Indian works of

art, chosen by the Managing Trustee of KMOMA, including

paintings, sculptures and photographs donated in full or in

part by collectors and artists, presenting works by artists such

as Tyeb Mehta, Jehangir Sabavala, Somnath Hore, Sakti

Burman, Ram Kumar, F.N. Souza, Akbar Padamsee, Jogen

Chowdhury, Ganesh Pyne, Arpita Singh, Rameshwar Broota,

Paresh Maity, Subodh Gupta, Chintan Upadhyay, Baiju

Parthan and Dayanita Singh. Works from this auction, which

will be on exhibition at Sotheby's in New York beginning

July 9th, are estimated to raise Rs. 10/14 crores (US$2.3/3.2

million).

 

Rakhi Sarkar, Managing Trustee of KMOMA who was

curator of the sale, said: " We are so pleased to hold the first

auction which will raise funds for this unique project, the first

of its kind, in India, dedicated to an international audience.

Artists from across India have joined hands with the

government and private sector to bring an understanding of

civilizations and cultures from around the world to the same

platform in this state-of-the-art museum. "

 

Zara Porter Hill, Head of the Indian and Southeast Asian Art

department, continued: " Sotheby's is privileged to host this

special fundraising auction to benefit the Kolkata Museum of

Modern Art. The sale is an opportunity for collectors to

acquire works by several artists who are in high demand and

for whom only a limited supply of works are on the market. "

 

Highlights: The cornerstone of the sale is Tyeb Mehta's Kali

Head (Green), 1998, which is fitting given that Kali, the

fierce mother goddess, is devoutly worshipped in Kolkata, the

future home of the KMOMA (lot 66, est. $400/600,000). In

this iconic work, Mehta portrays the ancient Hindu Goddess

Kali, the warlike deity embodying destruction, in an

astonishingly modern manner - potbellied with large breasts,

her arms flailing and her mouth a terrifying gorgeous gash of

white. Mehta refers to it as a " fantastic primordial image " , the

destroyer of evil and protector of humankind.

 

Senior Bengali artists including Jogen Chowdhury, Ganesh

Pyne, Sakti Burman, Somnath Hore have all made important

contributions. National legend, sculptor Somnath Hore,

donated the exquisite bronze work, Wounds, 1998, for the

KMOMA benefit auction before his death (lot 84, est.

$20/30,000). J. Sabavala's important work, The Chhortens,

2005, a square oil and acrylic on canvas depicting wayside

reliquaries nestling at the feet of a high snow-clad massif,

maintains the austerity of color and structure that the subject

evokes (lot 70, est. $150/200,000). Introspective and spiritual,

the painting is haunted by nostalgia, for moments once

possessed and now lost. The work, while being thoroughly

representative of his distinct style, echoes Sabavala's training

in the European tradition as well as his early fascination with

Cubism.

Unlike Sabavala's serene work, Arpita Singh's Classified

File, 2007, is a whimsical composition where comedy and

tragedy become interchangeable as Singh comments on our

programmed urban existence, the mindless obsession with

creation of wealth and prevalence of social injustice (lot 39,

est. $100/150,000). Her bold use of color and confident

control of the medium reveals her extraordinary talent as a

painter.

 

Other highlights include an important early paper drawing

Study of a Girl, 1960, by Jogen Chowdhury (lot 77, est.

$40/60,000); Sakti Burman's exceptional Giraf in Liberty, a

dream-like dense network of varied tones and textures (lot 57,

est. $80/120,000); Akbar Padamsee's contemplative Couple

(lot 75, est. $100/200,000); and Rameshwar Broota's stark

monochromatic canvas, Untitled, commenting on violence,

the wounded and human degradation (lot 50, est.

$120/180,000).

 

The selection also offers works by young contemporary

Indian artists, such as Subodh Gupta's shiny bronze and

chrome sculpture of cosmetic items unveiling the

complexities of a consumer-driven, globalizing society (lot

12, est. $50/70,000); a large black and white abstract triptych

by Kingshuk Sarkar; and works by Jaya Ganguly, Chintan

Upadhyay, Bose Krishnamachari and T.V. Santosh. Baiju

Parthan's Metronome and Yield, 2006-07, deal with the

artist's multiple engagements with mass media,

counterculture, the internet, mythological symbols, and new

age spirituality (lot 16, est. $12/18,000).

 

Also included are photographs by Pushpamala N, Vivan

Sundaram and Dayanita Singh. Tribal artists, such as Swarna

Chitrakar, Bhuri Bai, and Mayank Shyam represent the

traditional art of Bengal, explored through urban and

contemporary themes.

 

The KMOMA Project: KMOMA, a joint venture between the

government of West Bengal and the private sector, is the first

project of its kind in India, bringing together 70 artists,

various galleries, private individuals and Sotheby's to support

a national art museum in India. At a press conference last

year, KMOMA announced that the Museum was slated for

completion in 2012. The mission of the museum is to collect,

preserve and exhibit national and international works of fine

art from the 18th century through contemporary art. The 570-

crore (US$150 million) project will be spread over 10 acres in

Rajarhat, Kolkata, and KMOMA's building, to be designed

by an international architect, will have four major sections:

National Galleries, Western Galleries, Far Eastern Galleries

and a large academic wing to promote research, conservation

and curatorial practices. Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, Chief

Minister of West Bengal, is the Chief Patron of the Museum.

Distinguished members of the international art and financial

community form the Board of Trustees and Advisory

Committee of the KMOMA. They include B.M Khaitan,

Chairman of Eveready Industries; Rajat Gupta, Former CEO

McKinsey & Co USA; Lord Swaraj Paul, Member of the

House of Lords, UK; Sreedhar Menon, former Deputy

President, American Express; Frank Wisner, Former US

Ambassador to India; Purnendu Chatterjee, CEO, Chatterjee

Group; Pratapaditya Pal, Art Historian and Curator, Los

Angeles; and artists Jogen Chowdhury, Ganesh Pyne and

Paritosh Sen. Rakhi Sarkar is the Managing Trustee.

 

See catalog (images):

http://preview.tinyurl.com/2g2ajp

 

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