Odishatv Bureau
Mumbai: Modern and contemporary art from Western India as well as rare miniatures from the princely Rajput courts of Rajasthan is being offered for auction here. The auction scheduled to be held on March 23 here is the third in the Creative India series of Indian auction house Osian`s - Connoisseurs of Art and expected to generate sales between Rs 12 to Rs 14 crores.

"Creative India Series 3- Bombay, Baroda and Western India" features 20 rare and exquisite miniatures from the early 18th century to the 1880s from the princely Rajput courts and schools of Rajasthan, such as Amber, Udaipur, Bikaner, Kotah, Bundi, Kishangarh, Jodhpur, Jaipur and Nathdwara. A few folk art-inspired Paithani miniatures from Western Deccan (Maharasthra) are also included in this section.

The first auction was held in Delhi in December 2011 and presented works by artists from Bengal and fetched Rs 8 crores and the second, also held in Delhi, earlier this year, showcased artists from Punjab and Delhi and notched up sales worth Rs 14 crores. "There is a systematic and progressive increase in momentum at Osian`s," says Neville Tuli, Founder and Chairman Osian`s.

"Osian`s complete consolidation of its auction operations will coincide with the next stage of sustainable and credible growth of the Indian art market," says Tuli. "Thereafter Osian`s will renew its next stage of infrastructure-building projects, with the public launch of its knowledge-base and the opening of the Osianama Complex in New Delhi during July 2012."
Up next for the auction house in June this year is the fourth sale focussing on art from Cholamandal and South India.

Meanwhile, the main part of the lot 135 in the auction focuses on the modern and contemporary art from art centres of Mumbai and Baroda, both highly influential and significant to the history of Indian modern art. It focuses on the art of modern masters such as F N Souza, K H Ara, M F Husain, Tyeb Mehta, S H Raza, Sadanand Bakre, Bhupen Khakhar, K G Subramanyan, Vivan Sundaram, Navjot, Gieve Patel, Sudhir Patwardhan, Rehka Rodwittiya, among others.

Apart from these masters, select works from a few of alumni of Mumbai`s J J School of Art such as Pestonji Bomanji, Rao Bahadur M V Dhurandhar, K K Hebbar, Jehangir Sabavala, Akbar Padamsee, Atul Dodiya, among others, are included along with select alumni of the Maharaja Sayajirao University, Baroda, such as Jeram Patel, Jyoti Bhatt, Himmat Shah, Nasreen Mohamedi, Ratan Parimoo, Surendran Nair and Nataraj Sharma.

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