Manjit Bawa's work fetches Rs 25 crore at online auction
Manjit Bawa's untitled work featuring a central figure reminiscing Krishna against a striking red backdrop has gone under the hammer at a whopping Rs 25.11 crore at an online auction hosted by AstaGuru.
The selling price is over three times of the estimated Rs 6-8 crore and is very close to AstaGuru's all-time record of Rs 25.3 crore for a Tyeb Mehta painting, which was auctioned off in September last year.
Bawa's painting executed in 1992 with oil on canvas is an ode to the artist’s profound connection to Indian mythology, the auction house said in the catalogue.
As many as 13 paintings by India's modern masters have fetched more than a crore at the auction held between December 11 and 12 where over 204 works by Indian modernists were sold for a sale value of Rs 73.33 crore.
Two paintings by FN Souza — rendition of his fascination with the head motif --were sold at a total Rs 7.5 crore.
Bikash Bhattacharjee's Doll, a part of his seminal «Doll» series was sold at Rs 2.2 crore, against an estimated Rs 60-80 lakh. His another work — titled The King On The Street — fetched Rs 1.25 crore against an estimated Rs 50-70 lakh.
J Swaminathan's «Bird, Mountan, Tree», Gulammohammed Sheikh's «Alphabet Series II», C Raja Raja Varma's portrait of Diwan Bandi Balaiah Naidu were also sold for over Rs 1 crore each.
