NEW DELHI: In a clear indication of the growing clout of Indian art collectors, the London auction house Christie's will become the first international auctioneer to hold sales in India. An inaugural auction of Indian art will take place in Mumbai in December.
The geography of art buyers has been slowly and steadily changing with collectors from India, China and Russia making their presence felt in international auction rooms. Christie's Indian art sales have been steadily growing and last year, it notched up sales of $34 million. "The Indian art market is growing, and an auction in India is the next natural step,'' said Menaka Kumari Shah, director of Christie's India.
This is also in line with Christie's new focus on Asia. In April, it announced its first foray into mainland China, with an auction room in Shanghai. Though the Indian market is minuscule compared to China, its artistic ecosystem has been growing, with a quality art fair and the setting up of several private museums. It also has seen the rise of homegrown auction houses such as Saffronart and Osian's.
An international auction will only help the Indian art market grow, points out Shah. "The auction preview will showcase the best of Indian art. It will be open to members of the public and not just bidders." This is important in a country where very few people walk into museums -- Delhi's National Museum of Modern Art gets 18,000 visitors per year as compared to the Louvre's 10 million.
0 comments:
Post a Comment