Emami Chisel Art Announces its second auction November 8, 2008

New Delhi: Emami Chisel Art auction house created history in its debut auction early this year with Husain’s ‘Tribute to Hashmi’ creating a record for being the artist’s first work to cross $1 million (Rs 4 crore) mark at an auction. And now, Emami Chisel Art (ECA) announces its second auction of Indian Contemporary and Modern Art in November with the hammer slated to come down on November 8, 2008; 6:30 pm at Emami Towers, 687 Anandapur, E.M. Bypass, Kolkata.

The forthcoming auction comprising 105 lots with art works of 89 artists is sure going to be an auctioneer’s delight and an eye-opener for the audience. The total sale (high estimate) is expected to be about Rs. 12, 82,00,000 with notably ‘No Reserve’ price marked against the works. The viewers can preview the impressive collection from November 1, 2008 onwards on www.emamichisel.com. The online bidding however, begins on November 3, 2008 at 6.30 pm which culminates on November 8, 2008 with the floor auction at ECA premises.

As per its promise to keep ECA auctions as transparent as possible, the auction house is keeping no hidden reserve prices against the low estimates. What’s also noteworthy is that works of stalwarts like Ganesh Pyne, Jogen Chowdury and K.G Subramanyan, to name a few, have been kept 30-40 % less than the market prices in an effort to as Vikram Bachhawat says, “let the people determine the price an artist should command and break the norm of auction houses hyping market prices.” So, an eminent cross-hatch work by Jogen Chowdhury which would be available in the market at 50 lakh starts at a bid of Rs 20 lakh and K.G Subramanyan’s work is estimated at a starting bid of 15 lakh against a market price of Rs 30 lakh. What’s also new is that this is the first time that video art will be auctioned in a public auction.

Says Vikram Bachhawat, Director, Emami Chisel Art; “We have outsourced works from collectors who are based in different parts countrywide. The authenticity and value of the works will be endorsed by the artists if he or she is living. Works by those who have passed away will be certified by experts on the concerned artist. There will be an experts group for each auction. While the debut auction encompassed only paintings, this time the auction includes exclusive genres like sculptures, photos and video art.”

The auction will include some rare and significant works of art by many major artists. Among the highpoints are a published work of N.S. Bendre estimated to be about Rs 22- 25 lakh, J Swaminathan’s Bird, Tree & Mountain series estimated between Rs 65 lakh- 79 lakh, two works by Bikash Bhattacharjee, one titled “ Portrait of __!” estimated between Rs 45 lakh to 50 lakh and the second estimated between Rs 40 lakh to 45 lakh. Ganesh Pyne’s tempera on canvas titled The Flower, estimated between Rs 40 lakh to 50 lakh, is truly a rare and exclusive work. Chitrovanu Mazumdar’s (Rs 20 lakh – 22 lakh), a novelty work by Arpita Singh estimated between Rs 80 lakh to 1 crore (the highest priced work in the auction) and a rare work by Subodh Gupta estimated between Rs 28 lakh to 32 lakh are also the part of the auction.

Those who are Husain lovers are also in for a treat. Emami Chisel Art will auction three of the artist’s works from the Doll Series estimated between Rs 6 lakh to 50 lakh. Ram Kumar’s Landscape (Rs 22 lakh - 25 lakh) and Jogen Chowdhury’s Wounded (Man), an exceptional cross hatch work at Rs 20 lakh - 25 lakh, are expected to add further excitement to the auction. Apart from this, the auction comprises of works by S.H. Raza’s, Baiju Parthan, Atul Dodiya, Sheila Makhijani, Reena Saini Kallat, Riyas Komu, Hema Upadhyay, Jitish Kallat to name a few.

Handpicked works of Somnath Hore, Paritosh Sen, Ganesh Haloi, Kartick Chandra Pyne, Jayashree Chakravorty, Chhatrapati Dutta, Sekhar Roy, Samindranath Majumdar, Chandra Bhattacharjee, Farhad Hussain, Kishore Shinde, K.G. Subramanyan,Sohan Qadri will also go under the hammer.

One of the major focal point of the auction apart from paintings & drawings are photographs, sculptures and video art. Photograph’s by Rameshwar Broota, Gigi Scaria’s City Up rise, Sudarshan Shetty’s ‘car’ sculpture breaks the shackles of predictability at the auctions. Bose Krishnamachari’s sculpture (Rs 18 lakh - 20 lakh), with a self portrait on it, is another one of its kind work. Also, for the very first time in the history of public auction, a video art titled Between Fire and Sky by Surekha would be auctioned. The video is based on the unnatural death of women in the city of Bangalore. The two channel video projection has drawn attention to the relationship between the body and natural elements and shows how fire and water are the primary tools used by women to end their lives.

In store at the auction house, according to Mr. Vikram Bachhawat, is also a full-fledged art centre encompassing a gallery, library, archive, bookshop, publication wing and museum. "Another significant facet of this project is an art banking division which is manned by a consultant to guide buyers through the process of parking funds in rare artworks.’
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Emami Chisel Art Auction House is a joint venture between the Rs 1,500-crore turnover personal health care major Emami Group and Chisel Crafts, the parent company of the Kolkata-based Aakriti Art Gallery.