Newly Launched Art Auction House deRivaz & Ives introduces Artists Resale Royalty (ARR)

New Delhi: This year’s first Art Auction will take place online on 21-22 January 2022. It will be the Inaugural auction by deRivaz & Ives, a newly launched Arts Auction House.

The online auction on www.derivaz-ives.com will offer a top-quality selection of artworks by the leading modern masters such as Jamini Roy, N.S. Bendre, S.H. Raza, F.N. Souza, M.F. Husain, V.S. Gaitonde, Jehangir Sabavala, Akbar Padamsee, Prabhakar Barwe, Ganesh Pyne, among others. This includes some of the rarest masterpieces by these Artists.

The Auction if fully sold will fetch above INR 25 crores. Despite the record sales last year, the 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$186 million (INR 1400 Crores) one can clearly see India’s minor share and role. The failure is stark when compared to China’s meteoric rise since 2000, as China stands at nearly 26% of the world’s art market today. The development of the larger Indian arts infrastructure is all the more pivotal in this scenario with a sense of confidence and faith in Indian art and artists.

The fact that deRivaz & Ives have lined up three more online auctions in the next 30 days reflects confidence on part of the art collectors and connoisseurs.

Briefing about the pioneering step of introducing a new Artist Resale Royalty Framework Neville Tuli, Chief Mentor, deRivaz & Ives, stated that “This is a game-changing step for Indian art, ARR ensures that artists or their legal heirs are given a financial credit for their work in secondary public auction sales, ranging from 4% to 2% depending on the value of the secondary sale. The right to payment will last for the copyright period following the death of the creator/artist. With several industries including the music industry setting laws in place for their creators, this radical move sets the tone for the art world, artists and their legal heirs across India who have been struggling to get due from secondary public auction resale; it is long overdue.”

He further added that “Artists take decades to evolve their craft. A very small proportion of them achieves their due financial respect when alive. Only their one-off primary market sale financially rewards them. France, the mother of modern art, instituted their droit de suite system of Resale Royalty over one hundred years ago, though only a few other countries have followed her since, such as the USA & UK. DeRivaz & Ives decision to pay ARR will encourage others and push India towards a more just and mature global art market”. It will be interesting to observe how other artists like musicians, theatre artists, singers, writers, etc. are reacting to this. Truly, an innovation that will impact many lives.