Goan painter Francis Newton Souza’s landscape Houses of Hampstead set a new record at an art auction, fetching seven times its estimate at Sotheby’s in London, or $7.5 million. His other painting Emperor fetched five times its estimate at The Modern and Contemporary South Asian Art auction, or $6.9 million.
Five of Souza’s paintings fetched a total of $14.6 million in the auction. Other artists from the Bombay Progressive Artists Group, including Vasudev Gaitonde, M.F. Hussain, Syed Haider Raza, Ganesh Payne, Jagadish Swaminathan and N.S. Bendre’s paintings also fetched $25.5 million.
Sotheby’s head of sales, Manjari Sihare-Sutin, said that this auction is becoming the most valuable in its 30-year history. It is exciting to see seven new world records being set at the auction. Among them, Francis Newton Souza’s paintings fetched more than double their price.
Of the six paintings put up for auction, Hussain’s Chittor Fort was sold for three times its price, i.e. $1.3 million. While Gaitonde’s painting fetched $646,901. Ganesh Payne’s The Dream Conversation fetched $851,186.
The auction house said that the carefully selected exceptional works reflect the talent and aesthetic vision of the artists of this region. This is a significant achievement for South Asian artists. Auction participants were informed about the import restrictions imposed by the US and asked to do their due diligence before participating in the auction.
