 Artist: Dhaneshwar Shah |
Copal Newsletter - March, 2008
The true work of art is but a shadow of the divine perfection.
::: Michelangelo :::
In this newsletter:
- International Scenario
- News Post India
- International Auctions
- Loans on Art
- Indian Scenario
- Developments at Copal
- Copal Activities
- Copal Recommended Artists
International Art Scenario
As taken from TimesOnline 19 March 2008
The Subcontinent is the Rising Star of Contemporary Art as Collectors Embrace a new Generation of Indian Artists
Gareth Harris
For the past few years the art world has gone China crazy, with record prices at auction, but now another Eastern star is in the ascendant. Indian art's time is coming.
From Charles Saatchi to the Serpentine Gallery, major collectors and galleries across Britain are embracing a new generation of Indian artists - Bharti Kher and her husband Subodh Gupta, Jitish Kallat, Sudarshan Shetty and Chitra Ganesh - and their daring take on topics such as Hindu myths, consumer society and immigration. Britain's first Asian Art Triennial is launched at the Cornerhouse in Manchester next month with provocative work by five emerging female artists based on the subcontinent. And the collector Frank Cohen has just opened the Passage to India show at his Wolverhampton gallery, Initial Access.
Prices are rocketing. The private-equity investor Deepak Shahdadpuri was quietly amassing Indian art well before the market heated up - but even he is now struggling to afford it. “Price is now a constraint. I have four works by Thukral and Tagra, the first of which I bought for around $4,500 [£2,250]. Last summer, one of their pieces went for over $450,000 at Christie's in Hong Kong,” he says.
Leading auction houses are also feeding the frenzy. Christie's, for instance, has gone global, with auctions of Indian art in Hong Kong, Dubai and New York. Speculators who made a quick buck on the Chinese art market are now eyeing up the Indian scene. This is one art- market bubble that's set to get bigger and bigger.
Copal’s Comments: Indian art, as we have always said is undervalued and this is the reason why the international auction houses and global art collectors are taking interest in Indian art. The rule of investment in any asset class is to invest while the acquisition cost is still low. When the markets rise it is time to reap the rewards.
Equity market investors have a chance of diversifying a small part of their investment from equity, into the art market to avoid the volatility of this segment. They should be shrewd in their investments like Deepak Shahdadpuri.
News Post India
HUSAIN TOPS SOTHEBY'S SPRING SALES OF INDIAN ART
Thursday 20th of March 2008 M.F. Husain's untitled work has fetched $409,000, dominating the Sotheby's New York spring sales of Indian art.
Head of Sotheby's Indian and Southeast Asian Art department Zara Porter Hill said: 'Today's (Wednesday's) sale was very solid, with a strong and discerning buying group seeking out top quality modern works with good provenance. In a full salesroom with consistent bidding, we witnessed strong international demand for works by Husain. An untitled abstract work by Swaminathan, 1971, fetched $229,000 from an Indian buyer.
An unnamed work by Broota, which brought in $169,000, was sold to an anonymous buyer...
The Sotheby's New York spring sales of Indian and Southeast Asian Art, including 240 lots of modern paintings, works of art and miniatures, brought a total of $12,133,626.
The Indian Art sale, which included modern paintings, achieved $5,106,875 and the Indian and Southeast Asian Art sale, which included works of art and miniatures, realized $7,026,751.
Copal Comments: Miniatures have been one of Copal’s strong recommendations for quite sometime. The market for miniatures has just sprung up and is bound to grow. Copal is very bullish on it.
TMCNET.COM
March 12, 2008]
CHINA WAY AHEAD OF INDIA IN CONTEMPORARY ART
(Economic Times, The (India) (KRT) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Mar. 11--NEW DELHI -- This Saturday, a show of Indian art opens in Wolverhampton, UK of all places that may just prove to be a watershed event. Manchester businessman Frank Cohen (along with advertising maven Charles Saatchi, the most high profile foreign collectors of Indian art) is striking his colours with Passage to India, an exhibition of contemporary Indian art from his own collection. A few months later, Saatchi will do the same at his new London gallery, impishly titled The Empire Strikes Back. As both men collect Chinese art as well, this will add a new dimension to the rivalry -- even in art -- between the two Asian giants, India and China.
Copal Comments: Indian art has now been gaining recognition in the international art markets and one can see from a lot of these clippings how global collectors are buying Indian artworks.
International Auctions
Christie's Auction
Christie’s auction on Indian and Southeast Asian Art was held on 21st March 2008 in New York. M.F. Husain’s ‘Battle of Ganga and Jamuna: Mahabharata 12, a painting from the epic fetched Rs 6.5 crore – a world record established by the artist. This painting broke the earlier record held by Tyed Mehta’s ‘Mahisasura’, which sold for Rs 6 crore also at Christie’s in New York in 2005. The work was executed in the year 1971-1972 and was estimated at Rs 2 – 3 crores.
The 10 blockbusters at the auction were:
| M.F. Husains Battle of Ganga and Jamuna | Rs 6.5 crores |
| Ram Kumar’s Vagabond (1956) | Rs 4.7 crores |
| Tyeb Mehta’s Untitled (1981) | Rs 2.6 crores |
| Francis Newton Souza’s Untitled (1961) | Rs 1.5 crores |
| Syed Haider Raza’s Bindu Pancha Tatva (1999) | Rs 1.4 crores |
| T.V. Santhosh’s Traces of an Ancient Error (2007) | Rs 1.3 crores |
| Rameshwar Broota’s Traces of man (1995) | Rs 1.05 crores |
| Atul Dodiya’s | Rs 86 lacs |
| Husain’s Mother Teresa (1997) | Rs 82 lacs |
| Akbar Padamsee’s Metascape (2005) | Rs 77 lacs |
Copal’s Comments: Artists Ram Kumar, Rameshwar Broota and Atul Dodiya were strongly recommended by Copal from the year 2007
Artcurial Auction (FRANCE)
Indian Artist Subodh Gupta sets world record on 3 April 2008 at Artcurial Auction House in France.
Subodh Gupta's 'Vehicle For The Seven Seas' executed in 2004 fetched € 502,330 ($785,243), which set a world record for the artist and was auctioned for more than three times its estimate. The estimated price for the sculpture was estimated € 140,000-180,000. There was fierce bidding in the packed sales room. The sculpture was eventually sold to a French collector. The sculpture was made up of a bronze trolley with gold patina and three aluminium suitcases.
Copal’s Comments: Another one of Copal’s recommended artists Subodh Gupta setting world records.
Loans on Art
Sotheby's offers Art-Related Loans
Sotheby’s Financial is the world’s only full service art financing company. They offer loans both for property consigned for sale and term loans against the value of your collection. Advertisement given by Sotheby’s in their catalogue on Indian Art New York, 19 March 2008 page 127
Copal’s Comments: Art is being recognized by insurance companies, banks, and financial institutions as an asset and hence financing in this segment.
Indian Scenario
Delhi Art Students Getting Good Prices for Their Works
(Hindustan Times, New Delhi, Saturday March 22, 2008)
Delhi’s College of Art had its annual show this month. The students of MFA sold their works anywhere from Rs 1 lac to Rs 1.5 lacs. Professor Abhimanyu V.G., artist and Head of Department, Painting said “last year only 10% of the students managed to sell. This time the market seems to have matured; people are not only buying, but they are also learning to appreciate art.’
Obviously it is a reflection of art boom outside the college premises that’s making inroads into lives of students.
Domestic art Strikes Gold (Times of India 30 March 2008)
Article written by Nalini S. Malviya for the Times of Indian dated 30th March 2008.
She writes about the situation of the Indian art market and the rising demand in
the country.
Times of India - 30th march 2008
Auctions
Saffron Art Auction
Saffron Art had its spring online auction on 12th – 13th March 2008 for Indian Contemporary Art. The auction had 140 lots on offer by 55 contemporary artists out of which 119 were sold. The total value of sales at the end of auction stood at Rs 27.20 crores. Younger generation of Indian artists sold their artworks for crore and higher. The auction crowned the new crorepatis of Indian art –Surendran Nair, Shibu Natesan, Subodh Gupta and Jagannath Panda etc.
As mentioned in the news article China vs India – on Canvas Economic Times dated 11th March 2008 Saffron figures show that the sales Indian art in public auctions has grown from $4.5 million in 2003 to $150m in 2006.
Copal’s Comments: Indian art still has to compete with international art on the global platform in terms of valuation. It has a long way to go. This is just the early stages for the rise of the Indian art market.
National Gallery of Modern Art
National gallery of modern art, ministry of culture, government of India organized an exhibition of photographs of Raghunath Rai ‘the journey of a moment in time’ from 18th March to 15th April ’08 at National Gallery of Modern Art, Jaipur House, India Gate, and New Delhi
40 YEARS OF INDIA THROUGH RAGHU RAI'S LENS
He is often dubbed the king of camera. Photographer Raghu Rai, who has captured life in all its shades over the last four decades, still tops the list of India's best lens men.
Copal comments: Copal has been recommending photography as the next investment.
Developments at Copal
Copal's Art Selection Panel Meets
Copal’s Art Selection Panel met on 27th March 2008 at India International Centre, Annexe, New Delhi to enlist and screen new artists for Copal Art Bank. New artists were screened and approved by the panel. Some of the artists were kept under watch
Copal Activities
Looking at Art – Series IV
Copal conducted the monthly art education program ‘Looking at Art’ Series IV on 2nd March 2008-02-27 at India International Centre Annexe, New Delhi. Eminent poet, critic and art lover Ashok Vajpeyi spoke on Sayed Haider Raza’s painting ‘MA’. The well-known art critic Yashodhara Dalmia presided. This program was jointly sponsored by Copal and Edelweiss Securities Ltd.
The Raza Foundation Awards preceded the Looking at Art series at 5.30pm at the same venue. Awards were presented by Master Artist S. H. Raza to Sheetal Gattani (Mumbai), S. Harshvardhan (Delhi), Vanita Gupta (Mumbai) and Avadhesh Yadav (Delhi) for visual arts.
Surupa Sen (Nrityagram) and Priti Patel (Kolkata) – received the awards for classical dance. Ranjit Hoskote (Mumbai) and Yateendra Mishra (Ayodhya)-Poetry.
FORTHCOMING LOOKING AT ART SERIES V – will be conducted at the India International Centre Annexe, Lodhi Road, New Delhi on 18 April 2008. Dr. Geeti Sen eminent art historian and art critic will be speaking on Manjit Bawa’s painting ‘Dharma and the God’. Mr. Ashok Vajpeyi poet – critic would preside.
Copal Recommended Artists
Dhahneshwar Shah participated in Trends & Trivia – an Indian story presented by Art Konsult and Mon Art Gallerie from 15th – 24th March, 2008 in Hong Kong. He was one of the many artists whose works were exhibited.
Copal recommended Indian Artist Subodh Gupta sets world record on 3 April 2008 at Artcurial Auction House in France.
The spring on-line auction results of Saffron art’s auction held on 12th – 13th March ’08. The top table shows the ‘Top 10 Lots by Value’.
Saffron's Art on-Line Spring Auction Held on 12th - 13th March 2008
Top Ten Lots by value
Out of these 10 lots 50% of the lots were artists who have been repeatedly recommended by Copal.
| Artists recommended by Copal | Remarks |
|---|---|
| Ganesh Haloi | **** |
| Gaitonde | **** |
| Ram Kumar | **** |
| Rameshwar Broota | **** |
| Thota Vaikuntham | *** |
| Rabindra Nath Tagore | **** |
| Abanindra Nath Tagore | **** |
| Gaganendra Nath Tagore | **** |
| Jamini Roy | **** |
| Jyoti Swaroop | **** |
| Nandalal Bose | **** |
| Atul Dodiya | **** |
| Kishore Shinde | **** |
| Veer Munshi | **** |
| Neeraj Goswami | **** |
| Dhaneshwar Shah | **** |
| Siraj Saxena | *** |
| M. Senathipathi | ** |
| Hukumlal Verma | ** |
| Kuldeep Singh | *** |
| Hemant Rao | **** |
| Pradeep Puthur | **** |
| Rahim Mirza | ** |
| Viraz Naik | *** |
| K. M. Adimoolam | **** |
| Subodh Gupta | **** |
| Santhanraj | **** |
| Old Tanjore & Kali Ghat Paintings | **** |
| Bengal School Masters | **** |
| All National Heritage Artists | **** |
| Atul Dodiya | **** |
| Old mythological and miniatures | **** |
Recommended for April 2008.
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.