Maqbool Fida Husain’s Untitled (Gram Yatra) (1954) sold for $13.75 million at Christie’s South Asian modern and contemporary auction in New York on March 19th. The sale marks the most expensive work of modern Indian art ever auctioned, and far exceeded its its $2.5 million–$3 million estimate. (All figures include fees).
The sale totaled $24.86 million, more than double its $11.7 million high estimate, and underscores the increasing levels of demand for 20th century Indian art in recent years, highlighted by a number of significant auction results. the Christie’s event also comes just days after nine artists broke auction records at Sotheby’s modern and contemporary South Asian sale in New York on March 17th, which totaled $16.8 million, more than tripling its low estimate of $4.9 million.
A leading figure in the post-independence Indian modernist movement, Husain is regarded as one of India’s most important artists of the 20th century and represented his country at the Venice Biennale and the São Paulo Biennale in 1955 and 1972, respectively. Known as the “Volodarsky Husain,” Untitled (Gram Yatra) was previously owned by Leon Elias Volodarsky, a Ukrainian-born Norwegian doctor and art collector, and had remained largely out of public view for over seven decades. The 14-foot-long painting is comprised of 13 vignettes exploring life in Indian villages, reflecting the socio-cultural landscape shortly after India’s independence. The sale more than triples the artist’s previous auction record was set last September when Untitled (Reincarnation) sold for $3.1 million at Sotheby’s in London.
The previous record for a modern Indian artwork was held by Hungarian Indian painter Amrita Sher-Gil’s The Story Teller (1937). This work sold for $7.4 million at Saffronart in Mumbai in September 2023. The most expensive artwork from South Asia overall was for a 12th-century stone sculpture of a bodhisattva, which sold for $24.6 million at Christie’s New York in 2017.
Following Untitled (Gram Yatra), the top lots of Christie’s South Asian modern and contemporary auction were as follows:
- Sayed Haider Raza’s Black Sun (Le Soleil Noir) (1953) sold for $2.34 million, surpassing its $300,000–$500,000 estimate.
- Akbar Padamsee’s Untitled (1969)sold for $819,000, above its $600,000–$800,000 estimate.
- Sudhir Patwardhan’s Five Figures (1976) sold for $756,000, well above its $200,000–$300,000.
- Husain’s Untitled (Woman with Horses) (ca. 1980s) sold for $604,800, above its $250,000–$350,000 estimate.
