Art Market trends detected in the practice of fine arts in India

Indian art market started truly maturing. The buyers now started showing lesser reliance on galleries and investments started based on more informed choices.The recent ArtTactic Indian Art Market Confidence Indicator is up by 19.2% from October 2010, helped by a strong confidence in the Indian economy. Despite a below-par auction season in New York in March 2011, experts in the Indian art market believe the positive economic sentiment will start filtering into the Indian art market, which has been troubled since the speculative boom in 2008. With economic growth set to out-pace China, the survey experts believe India’s economic growth will help fuel the Indian art market. The Economic component of the ArtTactic Indian Confidence Indicator has increased 21% from October 2010.

Three primary trends are now being detected in the practice of fine arts in India. Firstly a search for a distinctly Indian identity continues to dominate artists’ minds. Often it leads to the use of materials and objects which are distinctly Indian.

The second important trend that is being observed is the use of computer graphics, photography, modern technology and a host of other media in the creation of art works.

The third trend is the search for an individualist language of expression. The most important new style that fits this new trend is ‘Pseudorealism’, an art-genre which has originated solely in India. Only six years since inception, Pseudorealism has already a huge following among the new generations of India.



The Ashok Art Gallery is internationally known for one of its most important holdings: more than 2000 major works by the world's most significant Artists.Over the past years, as Ashok Art Gallery has become a major centre for contemporary visual art, the Gallery has built a strong collection of contemporary work of different artists, we became a sponsor of the STANDUP-SPEAKOUT Artshow, Organized by Art Of Living Foundation and United Nations.Organized an International Contenmporary Art Exhibition including artists from USA, The Nederlands, Pakistan and India.We have also participated at Art Expo India 2008, 09 Mumbai and India Art Summit 2008 New Delhi.

Art Market: Top 10 Best Selling Lots, Top 10 Most Disappointing Lots and Top 10 Most Surprising Lots

Last week Sotheby’s reported consolidated sales of a record $3.4 billion in the first half of 2011, up 54% from last year in the 2nd quarter. Christie’s previously released its six-month total of $3.2 billion, up 15% from last year.

As the art world now anxiously awaits to see how severely the global market downturn will affect its recent re-stabilization, MutualArt took the chance to look back and get caught up for the fall auction season. Gear up for September with a review of the top lots, steepest flops and biggest shocks so far of the year.

Top 10 Best Selling Lots

Francesco Guardi managed to overcome the supremacy of Picasso and capture the top slot, achieving the highest hammer price so far this year. Picasso’s buying power held strong though in second place and with two lots in the top ten. The only other artist with more than one lot here is Francis Bacon, whose work enjoyed a remarkable market comeback this year.

1) £26,697,250 - Francesco Guardi, Venice, a view of the Rialto Bridge, Looking North, from the Fondamenta del Carbon, (pictured below) oil on canvas, executed in the late 1760s. World auction record for Venetian view painting; World auction record for the artist; Highest price paid at an international auction house in 2011; Second highest price paid ever for an Old Master painting. (Sotheby’s London, 7/6/2011)

2) £25,241,250 - Pablo Picasso, La Lecture, oil on panel, 1932. (Sotheby’s London, 2/8/2011)

3) £24,681,250 - Egon Schiele, HÄUSER MIT BUNTER WÄSCHE (VORSTADT II), oil on canvas, 1914. World auction record for the artist. (Sotheby’s London, 6/22/2011)

4) $38,442,500 - Andy Warhol, Self-Portrait, in four parts, acrylic and silkscreen on canvas, 1963-64. Highest price ever paid for a portrait by the artist. (Christie’s NY, 5/11/2011)

5) £23,001,250 - Francis Bacon, Three Studies for Portrait of Lucian Freud, oil on canvas, 1964. (Sotheby’s London, 2/10/2011)

6) £22,441,250 - George Stubbs, Gimcrack on Newmarket Heath, with a trainer, a jockey and a stable lad, oil on canvas, circa 1765. World auction record for the artist. (Christie’s King Street, 7/5/2011)

7) $33,682,500 - Mark Rothko, Untitled No. 17, oil on canvas, 1961. (Christie’s New York, 5/11/2011)

8) $29,202,500 - Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, The Meeting of Antony and Cleopatra: 41 BC, oil on panel, 1883. (Sotheby’s New York, 5/5/2011)

9) £17,961,250 - Pablo Picasso, Femme assise, robe bleue, oil on canvas, 1939. (Christie’s King Street, 6/21/2011)

10) £17,961,250 - Francis Bacon, Study for a Portrait, (auction video below) oil on canvas, 1953. Second-highest price for any work in this category at Christie’s London. (Christie’s King Street, 6/28/2011)

Top 10 Most Disappointing Lots:

Monet was noticeably absent from the best-selling list, and unfortunately appears here twice for unsold lots. Other lots by blue-chips artists failed to sell or sold below their low estimates as buyers remained cautious, ignoring often over-enthusiastic auction house catalogs and paying close attention to the artworks’ condition.

1) Andy Warhol’s Self-Portrait, (above left) sold below the $30,000,000-40,000,000 estimate for $27,522,500 (Christie’s New York, 5/11/2011)

2) Claude Monet’s Nymphéas, Not sold against an estimate of £17,000,000-24,000,000 (Christie’s King Street, 6/21/2011)

3) Pablo Picasso’s Femmes lisant (Deux personnages), sold below the $25,000,000-35,000,000 estimate for $21,362,500 (Sotheby’s New York, 5/3/2011)

4) Jeff Koon’s Pink Panther, (above middle) sold below the $20,000,000-30,000,000 estimate for $16,882,500 (Sotheby’s New York, 5/10/2011)

5) Claude Monet’s Iris mauves, Not sold against an estimate of $15,000,000-20,000,000 (Christie’s New York, 5/4/2011)

6) Robert Rauschenberg’s The Tower, Not sold against an estimate of $12,000,000-18,000,000 (Christie’s New York, 5/11/2011)

7) Pablo Picasso’s Couple à la guitare, sold below the $10,000,000-15,000,000 estimate for $9,602,500 (Sotheby’s New York, 5/3/2011)

8) Francis Bacon’s Untitled (Crouching Nude on Rail), sold below the $10,000,000-15,000,000 estimate for $9,602,500 (Christie’s New York, 5/11/2011)

9) Paul Gauguin’s Nature morte à "L'Espérance", Not sold against an estimate of £7,000,000-10,000,000 (Christie’s King Street, 2/9/2011)

10) Thomas Gainsborough’s Portrait of Colonel John Bullock, (above right) Not sold against an estimate of £3,500,000-5,000,000 (Chrsitie’s King Street, 7/5/2011)

Top 10 Most Surprising Lots

Old Master and Asian artists enjoyed relative success these six months, fetching enthusiastic bidding in their categories. At Christie’s alone, sales in Asia totalled £296 million ($482.5 million), up 48% while sales in America remained down. The trend towards Asian art and increasing buying power from Asian collectors is clearly evident from this list.

1) Rome, The Castel Sant'Angelo and the river Tiber from the south by Gaspar van Wittel. Sold for £718,850 - 3,494% above estimate (Sotheby’s London, 7/7/2011)

2) 1985-4 by Yu Youhan. Sold for HK$14,100,000 - 2,720% above estimate (Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 4/3/2011)

3) Appearance of Crosses 90-6 by Ding Yi. Sold for HK$17,460,000 - 2,394% above estimate (Sotheby’s Hong Kong,

4/3/2011)

4) GRAYGROUND by Ronald Ventura. Sold for HK$8,420,000 - 2,306% above estimate (Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 4/4/2011)

5) Spring Calling by Wu Guanzhong. Sold for HK$17,460,000 - 1,646% above estimate (Christie’s Hong Kong, 5/31/2011)

6) Sans Titre by Wols. Sold for £2,617,250 - 1,645% above estimate (Sotheby’s London, 2/10/2011)

7) Autumn in the Village by Lin Fengmian. Sold for HK$23,060,000 - 1,318% above estimate (Christie’s Hong Kong, 5/31/2011)

8) Series "X"? No. 3 by Zhang Peili. Sold for HK$23,060,000 - 1,153% above estimate (Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 4/3/2011)

9) Lotus and Landscape along Highway Hengguan by Zhang Daqian. Sold for HK$56,660,000 and HK$52,180,000, respectively - 809% and 745% above estimate (Christie’s Hong Kong, 5/31/2011)

10) The Meeting of Antony and Cleopatra: 41 BC by Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema (pictured below). Sold for $29,202,500 - 484% above estimate (Sotheby’s New York, 5/5/2011)

Written and Compiled by MutualArt.com Staff

The Ashok Art Gallery is internationally known for one of its most important holdings: more than 2000 major works by the world's most significant Artists.Over the past years, as Ashok Art Gallery has become a major centre for contemporary visual art, the Gallery has built a strong collection of contemporary work of different artists, we became a sponsor of the STANDUP-SPEAKOUT Artshow, Organized by Art Of Living Foundation and United Nations.Organized an International Contenmporary Art Exhibition including artists from USA, The Nederlands, Pakistan and India.We have also participated at Art Expo India 2008, 09 Mumbai and India Art Summit 2008 New Delhi.

One of the questions that surround art as an asset is how to quantify an income stream from any sort of collection

The art business is its proprietary nature. Artists, art dealers, and retail buyers prefer that sales figures stay private, and go to great lengths to keep them that way. Artists don't want other artists knowing how well they do; dealers don't want other dealers knowing how well they do; collectors don't want other collectors knowing what they buy or how much they pay for it. Furthermore, one of the most important rules of the art game is that the more you know about art prices and what's selling where, and the less your competition knows, the more money you make and the less money they make buying and selling art.

Art is not a commodity that can be regulated. Anyone can call him or herself an artist, anyone can call anything that they create "art," and anyone can be an art dealer or own an art gallery. Anyone can sell art wherever, whenever and under whatever circumstances they please, and price or sell whatever they call "art" for whatever amounts of money they feel like selling it for, as long as that art is offered without committing fraud or misrepresentation. And they do. To further complicate matters, art is sold everywhere all the time-- at individual artist websites, gallery websites, websites where artists pay fees to show their art, secondary market websites , auction sites, outdoor art shows, art galleries, art fairs, flea markets, estate sales, big city auctions, museum sales and rental galleries.

New art work sells in all price ranges; much of it passes through chains of wholesalers, distributors, and other resellers on its way to retail galleries, and ultimately to retail buyers. This includes paintings, sculptures, etchings, lithographs, photographs, serigraphs, wood carvings, ceramics, weavings, tapestries, watercolors, drawings, mixed media works, and so on. And that's just the brand new art; older art sells over and over and over again all the time, often changing ownership in secret private transactions. In all, countless millions of pieces of "art" are bought, sold, and traded worldwide every year.

Old-Master values have struggled to keep pace with those of more fashionable works by 20th-century and living artists. Traditional paintings have a smaller pool of collectors, and while buyers still fight for museum-quality discoveries, less desirable, previously-offered works attract less demand.

One of the questions that surrounds art as an asset is how to quantify an income stream from any sort of collection. But a recent report from Colin Gleadell suggests that art—in this case, 580 paintings and drawings assembled lightning quick over a three-year period—can produce revenue on an indirect basis. After a dull 2010 for global art sales, the Artprice Global Index bears testament to a rapid improvement in the market this year. The index, which is updated quarterly, shows that sales in the past three months have delivered prices that were last seen before the recession took hold in 2008.

One thing is certain – the big-time buyers of art are people in the financial sector who are weathering troubled times a lot better than high street businesses.And yet, for the last couple of decades, contemporary art has flourished through an alliance of the rich and the not-so-rich. It is the same educated, probably public-sector-employed middle class that enthusiastically visit galleries and art fairs. It is these fans of modern art who have helped, by their acclaim, to generate the charisma that makes it apparently worth so many millions. 

The Ashok Art Gallery is internationally known for one of its most important holdings: more than 2000 major works by the world's most significant Artists.Over the past years, as Ashok Art Gallery has become a major centre for contemporary visual art, the Gallery has built a strong collection of contemporary work of different artists, we became a sponsor of the STANDUP-SPEAKOUT Artshow, Organized by Art Of Living Foundation and United Nations.Organized an International Contenmporary Art Exhibition including artists from USA, The Nederlands, Pakistan and India.We have also participated at Art Expo India 2008, 09 Mumbai and India Art Summit 2008 New Delhi.