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Paiting by: Hukumlal Verma
Artist: Hukumlal Verma

Copal Newsletter - July, 2008

Pablo Picasso quotes
Art is not the application of a canon of beauty but what the instinct and the brain can conceive beyond any canon. When we love a woman we don’t start measuring her limbs

In this newsletter:

Copal has been predicting the developments of the Indian art market over the last 24 months.  The art market has been shaping up just like we expected. Indian art has been gaining global recognition and is being exhibited in galleries, fairs, auctions etc in many countries. Above all the works of Indian artists are seen to be drawing much more in terms of valuation then they ever did earlier.  Copal is very proud of itself today as we see our predictions coming true.

International Art Scenario


With the equity markets still in a state of depression and the financial sectors dealing with the credit crisis, the art market worldwide remains unaffected and on the contrary is witnessing continuous strong and long term growth. The investor base in the art segment is expanding which leads to the belief that the art market will be showing continuous growth.  As per recent data available the size of the art market is said to be close to $ 3 trillion with an annual turnover of $ 30 billion. The global annual turnover is estimated to rise to $100 billion in another 5 years. In comparison to this the Indian art market is known to have grown from $ 2 million to $ 400 million in the last 7 years.


Christie’s rides art boom in India, China

The economic times
19 July, 2008 1554 hrs IST, IANS

LONDON: Auction house Christie’s says it has recorded a 63% growth entirely due to the emergence of Indian and Chinese buyers of both their own art and western art. Christie’s total worldwide sales in the first half of this year amounted to £1.8 billion, a rise of 10% on the same period last year.

That includes both auction sales and private treaty sales. It sold 457 works for more than half a million pounds each, compared with 430 sold in the same period last year

Europe and Britain comprised £ 837 million in sales, and the in the US £631 million, Asia and the Middle East contributed £179 million, and Dubai reported separately contributed £20 million, according to the ‘Financial Times’.

Artist records were established, including for 38 Japanese artists, 10 Indian artists, eight Chinese artists and 11 Korean artists. Ed Dolman, the chief executive of Christie’s, said in a statement: “Christie’s robust results for the first half of 2008 reflect the ongoing strength of the international art market. Christie’s extensive international network has introduced an increasing number of buyers to the international art market from growth markets including Russia and the CIS States, the Middle East, India and China.”

Art tends to outperform in times when traditional asset classes are falling, and it retains its value relative to inflation.

Copal’s Comments: Copal had always stated repeatedly in all its communications with the art collectors that Indian art would be recognised internationally and would fetch high prices in times to come.  Also that this is a good time to invest in Indian art and the gains fetched over long term holding could be exorbitant.

ECONOMIES OPENING UP DO BOOST ART PRICES

BUSINESS STANDARD Q&A / Maithili Parekh Kishore Singh / New Delhi July 04, 2008, 0:01 IST (Extracts of the interview)

London's summer of contentment has nothing to do with a delayed spring and everything to do with flourishing art prices, as record sales proceeds keep the accountants scratching their heads at the impossibility of those zeros. Sotheby's June sale of impressionist and modern art, for instance, proved to be its largest ever with a value of Rs 865.67 crore. At separate Christie's auctions, first F N Souza, then S H Raza, scaled the Rs 10-crore benchmark with works auctioned, respectively, at Rs 10.68 and Rs 10.88 crore each. And on Tuesday and Wednesday, at Sotheby's sale of contemporary art, where Indian artists rubbed shoulders with their peers from around the world, Mumbai-born, London-based Anish Kapoor set a new record for his Untitled sculpture that won a bid of Rs 16.75 crore (two other, smaller works were auctioned for Rs 4.15 crore and Rs 94 lakh respectively). At the same sale, the gavel went down for Subodh Gupta at Rs 5.17 crore, for Rashid Rana at Rs 2.8 crore, for T V Santhosh at Rs 1 crore, while Raqib Shaw fetched Rs 89 lakh and Bharti Kher Rs 65 lakh.

Damien Hirst, Anish Kapoor and Subodh Gupta in the same catalogue — wow, have we arrived!

Including Indian works in a sale of international contemporary artists so they aren't pigeon-holed is an important step. If Western artists are considered international, so should Indian artists. Sotheby's has been the market leader in including works by Subodh Gupta, Bharti Kher, T V Santhosh alongside artists such as Damien Hirst, Andy Warhol and Francis Bacon in international contemporary auctions. Our first such auction took place in February 2008 in London. Since then we have had three more sales where the highest quality Indian art has been sold with works by international artists.

Has there ever been another period in memory when international art prices were as stratospheric as they are today?

Historically, the art market has had its price cycles but the exponential prices we are seeing today are truly remarkable. Such high prices for Indian art have never been reached before.

How do you predict the art market for the rest of this decade?

I believe the art market will continue to flourish, bringing in fresh blood and ideas and experimenting with new media. I also believe that the artist and the collector are getting more discerning, so we are seeing better quality art being created.

There is fear that in a global world, the supply of art is drying up, hence this rush to unexploited markets in Asia.

I think new artists, fresh ideas are coming up all the time and it is critical to identify the best art and nurture it through the primary and secondary markets. In Asia, where we are witnessing a tremendous growth spurt and changes on the economic, cultural and political fronts, I believe the creative process has also received tremendous encouragement and will continue to flourish.

Why have Indian (and Chinese) artists been so late in finding recognition? Is there a correlation between the opening of these markets and the rising prices of art?

There is definitely a correlation between the Chinese and Indian economies opening up and the art of these regions being recognised. Wealth creation drives patronage of the arts, which is what we're witnessing.

INDIAN ARTIST’S WORK SELLS FOR RS 16 CRORE

Vijay Dutt, Hindustan Times
London, July 02, 2008-07-17

First published 23:28IST(2/7/2008)
Last Updated: 02:29IST(3/7/2008)

The Sotheby’s London Sale of Contemporary Art on Tuesday, which raked in a phenomenal £94,701,550, making it the most successful summer sale of contemporary art works ever held in Europe, also brought more laurels and money for Indian artists.

In a hall filled to capacity, prices of many of the works, including those of Indians like Anish Kapoor, soared beyond expectations, with more than two-thirds of the works fetching prices much above the already high estimates.

An untitled sculpture from 2003 by Kapoor sold for £1,945,250. This price represents a new auction record for the Mumbai-born artist.

Copal’s comments: This is evidence of the growing market of Indian art globally. Indian art is being exhibited with international art.  Copal’s research team had been informing its collectors that Indian would gain international recognition and would increase in terms of valuation due to the huge potential and it being very undervalued. 


The emergence of Indian art is further evidence of the country’s influence. An LA exhibition takes a look.


Los Angeles Times
By Sharon Mizota, Special to The Times, July 8, 2008

Like the boom in contemporary art from China, the rising fortunes of Indian art are without doubt tied to the nation's emergence as a global economic power. But Saloni Mathur, a professor of art history at UCLA, sees two major developments at work.      

The first, she agrees, is "the opening up of the Indian economy and in general the whole phenomenon of globalization that's spearheaded by the Internet." But the other is the growth of a wealthy Indian Diaspora -- Indians living outside India -- who have started to collect art from the subcontinent.

Art attack: Buyers lap up paintings worth $1.1 bn»

Economic Times 07 July 2008

London auction houses sold a record £558.8 million ($1.1 billion) of art including fees over two weeks, with buyers coming into the market seeking to make money as other investments stalled. The total, calculated by Bloomberg from auction house results, is the highest for Impressionist and contemporary sales in London, beating the £521.1 million in February. “There’s no confidence in stock markets at the moment,” said London dealer Alan Hobart, of Pyms Gallery. “People have realized there’s money to be made out of art.”

Investors may not be willing to touch equities with a barge pole, but they still appear to be open to art as an Invest— at Christie’s and Sotheby’s — are testimonies to the fact that Indian art has fast gained a foothold in the international art market.

Copal Comments: Art is an alternate investment option. It provides portfolio diversification and the returns from art have beaten all other asset classes.

MADAME TUSSAUDS TO OPEN IN INDIA

Indiaserver.com Last Updated: 01-05-2008 12:50:06 IST

The world famous house of wax, Madame Tussauds is all set to foray in India. Bobby Khan Holdings has acquired the exclusive license for opening the Madame Tussauds in India in a proper phased out manner. The Museums in India will feature the wax replicas of the most popular global personalities, which will include people belonging to the world of Hollywood, politics, entertainment, sports and Bollywood.

Bobby Khan has acquired 100 percent franchisee of Madame Tussauds in India. He has acquired the exclusive rights of the brand from Merlin Entertainment, a part of PE fund Blackstone that owns Madame Tussauds globally. The wax Museums will come up in India from 2010 onwards, first opening up in the commercial capital Mumbai, followed by Delhi and then finally Hyderabad. Bobby Khan has also revealed that he might take the Museum to the city of Lahore in Pakistan.

The wax Museums in India like Madame Tussauds will follow the minimum ’75 wax statues per location’. Each statue is speculated to be costing somewhere around Rs.1.5 crore, hence the total amount to be invested in each museum is going to be around 300-400 crore which will include the cost of statues, real estate and other miscellaneous costs.

Copal Comments: India has been promising its art collectors that it would be updating everybody on the events / happenings related to art in the world and in India.  This is just a step in that direction.

STOLEN FIRST FOLIO EDITION OF SHAKESPEARE WILL RETURN TO DURHAM

Oil Painting 'Originated in East'


DURHAM, UK.- Durham University is rejoicing following news that a stolen rare Shakespeare book is returning home. The 17th Century Shakespeare First Folio, a national treasure owned by the University and stolen ten years ago, will be returning following its discovery in Washington, USA.         

Durham Police (UK) arrested a man in Washington, Tyne and Wear, two-weeks after the First Folio, regarded by many academics as the most important book in the English language, turned up at the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington DC, where it remains in safe care.         .
The First Folio is essentially priceless, but has been given an estimated value, when in perfect condition, of £15m. It was published in 1623 and is the first collected edition of Shakespeare's plays. Only between 200 and 300 copies are thought to have survived around the world.          

It was one of seven books stolen in December 1998 from the University’s Library on Palace Green which stands between the Castle and Cathedral. The theft appears to have been undertaken by professionals with long-term international connections in the ART WORLD.

COPAL COMMENTS – the prices for antiques and anything that has the rarity value are rising phenomenally.  Do not throw anything into the garbage without checking its worth. Who knows it may bring in the millions to you.

 

FORTHCOMING FAIRS & AUCTIONS

KOREAN INTERNATIONAL ART FAIR

19-23 September 2008

The 7th annual Korean International Art Fair 2008 will take place from September 19-23. At this fair, 218 leading galleries from 20 territories will introduce the highlights of modern art done by the great masters. Switzerland has been appointed as the guest country.

Gallery Sumukha, Bangalore will be participating in the art fair from India. There will be art galleries from Czech Republic, France, from Germany, Hong Kong, India, Italy, Japan,Korea, Peru, Singapore, Spain, Switzerland, Taiwan, K, USA, Uzbekistan.

Bengal Master's Work Showcased After 25 Years

FRIEZE ART FAIR

16-19 October 2008

Frieze Art Fair takes place every October in Regent’s Park, London. The fair provides an environment to introduce and showcase new and established artists to visitors from around the world.

Frieze Art Fair features more than 150 galleries from around the world, providing visitors with a unique opportunity to see and buy artworks done by the world’s leading artists.

AUCTION AT BONHAMS DUBAI

24th November 2008

Modern and Contemporary Arab, Iranian, Indian and Pakistani Art auction will be held in Dubai on Monday the 24th of November 2008

This is Bonhams' second sale in Dubai and will feature a wide range of modern and contemporary works by Middle Eastern, Iranian, Indian and Pakistani artists. The inaugural sale in March did exceedingly well and achieved record prices for more than two dozen artists and recorded a total in excess of $13 million.

CHRISTIE’S AUCTION

The South Asian Modern & Contemporary Art will be held at Christie’s New York, on 16th September 2008. The preview for this auction is being held in The Imperial Hotel, Janpath, New Delhi on 20th August 2008.

COPAL COMMENTS: Auction houses are doing brisk business as the art market is developing globally. Auction houses are seen to open additional branches in different parts of the world.

INDIAN ART SCENARIO

The Indian art market is continuously setting new records despite the inflation being at an all time high. The rich continue to purchase art. Inflation or no inflation, the consumerism in the art market remains unaffected. The Indian art boom is being felt worldwide.  The turnover in Indian art market is known to have increased from $ 2 million to $ 400 million in the last 7 years. The art market is one of the most unregulated markets and it is because of this that guidance by experts is of utmost importance. With Indian art getting regular global exposure collectors have been reaping good returns on their investment.

Indian art is still in the emerging state and therefore research and planning in is necessary. Many more works of new Indian Artists are being exhibited in India and abroad. The Indian art market is expanding globally also due to the fact that it has long been under-valued compared to the other world art. It is the market forces that are driving up the valuations.

Indian art cashes in on new dimensions

The Economic Times
24 Jul, 2008, 1800 hrs IST, Ashoke Nag, ET Bureau

KOLKATA: Indian installation and video art has started going places. With action around this genre hotting up at the buyer’s level, including investors and collectors at auctions, these pieces are turning into powerful tools to put across political, sociological, ecological and environmental messages. Over the past 2-3 years, prices of these works have shot up 5-10 times.

“After the staggering success of Chinese art, India is the next happening story. It’s gained ground tremendously in the last 2-3 years. The auction results for Indian art stand out in this context. Installation and video art may have surfaced sometime in the 90s, but it has never seen the visibility and commercial success that it enjoys today. Moving from two-dimensional to three-dimensional, this has truly emerged as an alternative art form,” an art market source told ET

According to the source, Indian installation and video art is showing at various fairs like Dubai, Hong Kong, Basel, Miami Basel and Istanbul. They are also being displayed in other venues like the Venice Biennale and are tipped to go to the Havana Biennale.

“The last Venice Biennale saw Indian names like Riyaz Komu and Nalini Malani. We are also figuring in exhibition venues such as the renowned Documenta mega art fest in Germany. Documenta is staged every five years. In the last Documenta, series 12, found presence of works by artists like Bhupen Khakar, Atul Dodiya, photo journalist Ravi Agarwal and film maker Amar Kanwar,” the source said.

Interestingly, quite a few international collectors are picking up this brand of Indian artworks. Among the top names are France’s Francois Pinault, the American Eli Broad, UK’s Charles Saatchi and Frankie Cohen and David Geffen from the US. The most sought after Indian artists in this field at the moment include Subodh Gupta, Bose Krishnamachari, TV Santosh, Jitish Kallat, Baiju Parthan, Anant Joshi and Jyothi Basu.

“Subodh, in fact, has been acquired by top houses like the Pompidou Art Museum. The focus has clearly shifted to the subcontinent and India. At the same time, Indian art has assumed an international character which international collectors can identify with. There is a conscious attempt to inject a crossover element in the works. Sometimes Indian artists are much more pricey than western names,” the source said.

COPAL COMMENTS: Indian art is seen to be gaining popularity with not only the Indians but also big International Collectors from USA, France, UK etc.  One can see the focus of the collectors, dealers, auction houses shifting towards India.

ART INVESTMENTS PAY OVER LONG TERM

Economic Times 13 JULY 2008 Nalini S Malaviya

In general, you should consider investing in art only after investing in traditional asset classes such as stocks, equity real estate and gold.  However, given the current scenario in the stock market, there are many prospective buyers with sufficient liquidity, who are looking at alternate options. Domestic art has emerged as one of the safest investment instruments in recent times. However, investing in art is quite different from investing in other market.

While it can be said that all investments require a fair amount of research, art in particular, requires greater research (as data is hard to come by) and an in-depth understanding of the art market dynamics. Another factor you must keep in mind is that art should be looked at as a fairly long-term investment. Also, it is less liquid than conventional assets.

COPAL COMMENTS – We have always been advising collectors to treat art as wealth which will accumulate by itself over a long term period. Like gold or property art should be sold only in times of financial crisis. Looking at art one should invest for a horizon of 5 – 10 years.

NATIONAL HERITAGE PAINTINGS DEMANDING HUGE PRICES AT RECENT ART AUCTIONS

Copal has been strongly recommending National Heritage Artists to art collectors. Recent art auctions have shown growing interest of art collectors in Bengal Masters. They have scored significant prices which maybe anywhere between Rs 50 lakh and Rs 5 crore.  Bengal School paintings have sold at healthy levels. All this while National Heritage Art had been languishing behind the rest unlike the Western countries where equal importance is given to modern, contemporary and early and heritage art.  But recent auctions have shown a change to be taking place in the Indian Art Scene. Several works of Bengal Masters like the Tagores have already demanded high prices but there are still many of their works which are till date available for reasonable prices. Art experts expect that in the future there may be art exhibitions and art auctions which may be relegated to Bengal Masters exclusively. If this turns out to be true then it would be a totally different scene. Buyers both on the domestic and international fronts are expected to fire prices of this genre in future.

OSIAN’S AUCTION 15TH JULY

Investors may not be willing to touch equities with a barge pole but they still appear to be open to art as an alternate asset class. The ongoing bearish phase in the stock market has not impacted the sentiment for art. Osian’s auction held on 15th July was evidence to this as 78% of the works were sold at the auction.

Artists in ‘Copal’s top 23 picks’have performed exceedingly well at the auction especially Ram Kumar, Gaitonde, Ganesh Pyne, National Heritage and Bengal Masters.

FORTHCOMING FAIRS & AUCTIONS

INDIA ART SUMMIT
Pragati Maidan, ITPO, Halls No. 8 and 9, New Delhi
22 August 2008 To 24 August 2008

India Art Summit TM 2008 is India's first art fair with 34 exhibitors showing the latest contemporary and modern art collection. Indian and international galleries participating include Nature Morte, Gallery Espace, Palette Art, 18/21, Sanskriti, Apparao, Delhi Art Gallery, Tao, Anant, Tasveer, Vadehra Gallery Bookstore and Rob Dean Art among others. The Summit will include an art fair for three days (22nd -24th August 2008), an art forum (23rd August 2008) and social networking events with the art community. An internationally renowned panel of speakers including Dr. Robert Storr, Mr. Philip Hoffman, Mr. Rajeev Lochan, Dr. Hugo Weihe and Ms. Geeta Kapur among others will address over 200 delegates attending this day long seminar.

ASTAGURU

MODERN & CONTEMPORARY ON-LINE AUCTION
August 20 – 21, 2008

Astaguru an auction house of India will be conducting an on-line auction for artworks of reputed and well-known artists from August 20th – 21st, 2008.

COPAL RECOMMENDED ARTISTS

COPAL RECOMMENDED ARTIST VEER MUNSHI’S WORK FEATURES IN AUCTION

Copal Recommended Artist Veer Munshi’s work titled ‘Pisceans’ 47.6 inches x 67.3 inches, oil on canvas 2004 featured in Osian’s auction on Indian Modern & Contemporary Art, held on 15th July 2008 in New Delhi.  

Copal has been recommending Veer Munshi very strongly to its clients from February 2008 (refer e-mail Feb 27, 2008, 3.28pm).  The artist had featured in the Saffron Auction and is now featuring in the Osian’s auction, one of the two largest and oldest auction houses of India.

The artist has appreciated substantially in the last 6 months and we expect further growth in times to come.

COPAL RECOMMENDED BENGAL MASTERS ON THE RISE

Copal has also been strongly recommending Bengal School Artists such as Tagores, Jamini Roy etc. for a long time now. Works of these artists featured in the Osian’s Indian Modern & Contemporary Art Auction held on 15th July 2008. One can see the rise in valuations of these artists. Many of the artists who featured in the auction happened to be recommended by Copal.

Performance of the Copal Recommended Artists are as under:

Abnindranath Tagore Rs 72,00,000 per sq. ft.
Gagnendranath Tagore Rs 33,00,000 per sq. ft.
Jamini Roy Rs   8,62,000 per sq. ft.
Ram Kumar Rs 80,00,000 per sq. ft.
Ganesh Pyne Rs 50,00,000 per sq. ft.
B. Bihari Rs  9,00,000 per sq. ft.
Gaitonde Rs 40,00,000 per sq. ft. (pen and ink)
Biswanath Mukherjee Rs 19,00,000 per sq. ft.
Natraj Sharma Rs   2,75,000 per sq. ft.
Atul Dodiya Rs   5,00,000 per sq. ft.
Surendra Nair Rs   5,68,000 per sq. ft.
Baiju Parthan Rs   3,00,000 per sq. ft.

COPAL ACTIVVITIES


Forthcoming Looking at Art - Series VI

Copal together with its distributing partner Edelweiss Sercurities Ltd. will be conducting the monthly art education program ‘Looking at Art’ Series VI on 9th August 2008 at India International Centre Annexe, New Delhi. Eminent art critic Prof. Dilip Chitre would be speaking on Shri Tyeb Mehta’s painting ‘Kali’. The eminent poet-critic Shri Ashok Vajpeyi would preside. The program will begin at 1830 hrs.

Copal’s Top 23 picks

(For July ’08 to Dec. ’08)

Subodh Gupta Surendran Nair
Anish Kapoor Natraj Sharma
Atul Dodiya Riyaz Komu
Rameshwar Broota Badri Narayan
T. V. Santosh Mithu Sen
N. S. Harsha Rabindranath Tagore
Baiju Prathan Gagnendranath Tagore
Jitesh Kallat Abnindranath Tagore
Justin Ponmany Jamini Roy
Shibu Natesan Nandlal Bose
Bharti Kher Old Tanjore Works
Sudarshan Shetty  

Copal Recommendation for August 2008

Please click here for August 2008 Recommendations


Disclaimer

Prospective Art Collectors are requested not to construe the contents of the newsletter, or any other prior or subsequent communication from Copal as investment, legal or tax advice. Each Art Collector should consult his / her / their own financial and legal advisors and accountants as to tax and related matters concerning potential purchase of the artworks.

Although the information contained in the newsletter has been obtained from sources which Copal reasonably believes to be reliable and authentic, Copal, its auditors and / or its legal advisors make no representations or warranties regarding its accuracy or completeness. Nothing contained in the newsletter is to be, or should be, relied upon, as a promise or representation of Copal.
The Newsletter is not an assurance that a market will develop for the artworks purchased from Copal by the Art Collectors. Each Art Collector must be prepared to bear the economic risk of the purchase. Kindly refer to our website www. copalart.com, for detailed disclaimer.