Guest Editor’s Column

I have been watching and enjoying the Indian art market for a fairly decent period of time, and looking today at the number of auctions in India, Europe and USA offering Indian art works, I am amazed. The spring auctions have started and all the Indian masters are doing well. Saffronart just organized a sale and sold 75% of the lots, of which 60% above the higher estimates. A large Husain, painted in the 1970's, exceeded INR 2 crores and established the record for the auction. Many other works were sold in the lower price range. For those who thought the market was dead, it is not ! Collectors are active and choosy but they are buying. We are far from the craze of the recent years, but buyers are presently, looking for quality works. I also know some sellers who would like the prices to go up faster in order to sell works they bought between 2005 and 2008 at very high prices. They will have to wait a little while and enjoy the works they bought in the meantime.

Generally speaking, the art market is showing signs of an upward trend. I was happy to see the good results of the Peter Stuyvesant's collection's sales at Sotheby's at the beginning of March, 2010. It was surely a legendary collection (no Indian contemporary art though) and the fame around. It must have excited lots of buyers, but it sold 100% with the auction record exceeding the million euros for “The Dinosaurierei” by Martin Kippenberger, 3 times  higher the estimate.

Keep an eye on the auctions & visit the galleries, the market is back.

 Franck Barthelemy
   Guest Editor