deRivaz& Ives sells art worth INR 11.86 Crores with first Modern Indian Art Online Auction
Mumbai : The inaugural online auction by deRivaz & Ives, a newly launched Arts Auction House, made a notable online sale of INR 11.86 Crores, with a respectable average Lot Price of INR 56.48 lakhs and a 70% Sale of Lots. A total amount of INR 37.32 lakhs Artist Resale Royalty was collected to be shared with the Artists and/or Legal Heirs from the secondary sales of this public auction.
The online auction highlights were artist Jehangir Sabavala’s painting from his ‘Sea, Sails & Sea- gulls’ period which was inspired by the language and syntax of his guru Andre Lhote’s synthetic cubism; F.N. Souza’s painting from his brilliant 1973 Manhattan Series executed within a richly coloured impasto heavy style, and Prabhakar Barwe’s critically acclaimed ‘Elements of Kitchen’ seeking the colourlessness within colour, and an emptiness within space.
Lot 14 | Jehangir Sabavala | Untitled | Oil on canvas, 1962 | 31.9 x 53.7 in | Sold for ₹29,120,000
Other important artworks which did well were Gaganendranath Tagore’s pioneering cubist inspired painting; Jamini Roy’s Christ Coming Down from the Cross to the Virgins; Ganesh Pyne’s intricate early tempera on canvas ‘King & Queen’ and four out of five S.H. Raza’s sold well during his Centenary Year (1922-2022).
CIN No. U74999MH2021PTC365869 GSTIN 07AAICD6857F1ZE
When asked how he would rate deRivaz & Ives with the other Auction Houses today, Chief Mentor Neville Tuli, stated with a smile – “It is a small first step. In a five horse race, we are sixth. But, we did not fall, we finished the course, built a new platform from scratch, but for the first time in Indian art we created wealth for artists & their legal heirs from secondary market public sales. That is something important. That is a pioneering move. Others will be forced to follow. Further, we come out again two weeks from now, and then again after two weeks, and again, so we all will judge deRivaz & Ives much better by March end.”
Table 1: Comparable Average Lot Prices for Auctions between Oct. 2021 and Jan. 2022. Auction House (Month of Auction) – Average Lot Price (INR)
Astaguru (Dec2021) – 2.39 Crores Pundoles (Nov2021) – 96.50 lakhs Saffronart (Dec2021) – 83.99 lakhs
deRivaz-Ives (Jan2022) – 56.47 lakhs (1st Auction) Artiana (Oct2021) – 35.88 lakhs
Astaguru (Nov2021) – 18.12 lakhs
Lot 23 | F.N. Souza | Manhattan Series | Oil on canvas, 1973 | 54.0 x 43.0 in | Sold for ₹16,800,000
Yet despite the seeming record sales last year, the modern Indian art market has barely shifted its minor global position over the last twenty years. Even relative to its own global GDP (3.2%) share the Indian art market is barely 10 cents on the dollar to the position it should be holding. For example, with the global art market at approx. US$55 billion and the Indian art market at approximately US$185 million (INR 1400 Crores) one can clearly see India’s minor share and role. This needs to fundamentally change now.
Further, deRivaz& Ives will be introducing major new technical innovations in the reporting and cataloguing of auctions by bringing in a much deeper role for scientific examinations of artworks with technical photography analysis so as to once and for all help root out much of the unaccountable and negligent chitter-chatter on Authenticity of artworks.
Ambassador (Retd.) Niranjan Desai Chief Spokesperson, deRivaz& Ives
For full auction result click here