Akbar Padamsee's 'Greek Landscape' sells for record Rs 19 crore at auction

New Delhi, Sep 9 Contemporary Indian artist Akbar Padamsee set a new high at Saffronart's auction with his work "Greek Landscape" going under the hammer for Rs 19.19 crore, breaking his earlier record.

The 4.3 x 12 feet canvas, estimated at Rs 7-9 crore, more than doubled its upper estimate in the sale on Thursday evening. The winning bid surpassed the previous record set by Sotheby's in 2011 for "Reclining Nude", 1960.

The auction also set other records for modern Indian art as Nasreen Mohamedi's 1960 oil on canvas sold for a record Rs 2.4 crore. 

One of the earliest modern masters of India, Gaganendranath Tagore's work "Ruben's Sketch Book" also followed suit by selling for Rs 1.8 crore. 

"We are thrilled with the world auction records we set tonight, notably for Akbar Padamsee and Nasreen Mohamedi. The sale provided a greater spectrum of modernist works, and works rarely seen at auction were well received. We were also gratified by the interest shown by international collectors", said Hugo Weihe, auctioneer and CEO of Saffronart. 

Among the top lots were V. S. Gaitonde's "Untitled oil" on canvas, 1970, estimated at Rs 10-15 crore which sold for Rs 10.12 crore, M. F. Husain's "Dreams", 1979, sold for Rs 4.44 crore and S. H. Raza's "La Terre", 1986, sold for Rs 3.84 crore. 

The auction achieved a total sale value of Rs 68.55 crore against pre-sale bettering the estimates of Rs 62.1-87.8 crore, according to a statement from the gallery.

-