: For the first time, the $1 million barrier has been breached in
the field of contemporary Indian art following Christie's
September 21 sale of Indian and Southeast Asian art.
A new world auction record for modern and contemporary Indian art
was established when Tyeb Mehta's "Mahisasura" was bought by a
private collector for $1,584,000, against a presale estimate of
$600/800,000. The artist was present at the sale.
The result quintuples the previous world auction record, which
was set at Christie's New York in 2002 when "Celebration," a
painting by the same artist, achieved $317,500, becoming the
first contemporary Indian painting to have ever surpassed the
$100,000 price limit.
A complete review will appear in a future issue.
