Sotheby’s Hong Kong Sales Reap Rewards of Regional Buying

by Raj S. Rangarajan

NEW YORK—Sotheby’s Hong Kong spring sale series, held April 2–4, totaled HK$2.4 billion ($316 million), compared with a total last spring of HK$2.6 billion ($337 million).

While Chinese ceramics and works of art, as well as jewelry, continue to be the top-earning sales categories here, auctions of modern and contemporary Asian art also performed well.

In the evening contemporary Asian art sale on April 2, the total was HK$211.3 million ($27 million) with Bloodline – Big Family: Big Family No. 2, 1993, an oil on canvas by top-selling Chinese contemporary artist Zhang Xiaogang, having sold for HK$52.2 million ($6.7 million). An acrylic on canvas, 1993 No. 4, 1993, by Fang Lijun, fetched HK$28.7 million ($3.7 million). Both of these were sold to a museum in Shanghai.

Evelyn Lin, head of contemporary Asian art, said, “We were able to source numerous desirable works of Xiaogang’s for sale, notably this masterpiece.” A record was also set for Jia Aili’s It’s Not Only You Who is Pale (Triptych), 2007, an oil on canvas with a painted wooden chair. The painting sold for HK$6.6 million ($848,718), surpassing the HK$2.5 million/3.8 million estimate.

The 20th-century Chinese art category totaled HK$255 million ($32.6 million), while modern and contemporary Southeast Asian paintings on April 2 brought in HK$96 million ($12.3 million). Of the 166 lots offered, 79 percent were sold by lot, 92 percent by value. The top lot was Banyan with Two Young Balinese, by Walter Spies, which sold for HK$9.6 million ($1.2 million), followed by Self Portrait with Child, by Hendra Gunawan, which sold for HK$6 million ($771,794).

Records were set for contemporary works, including Red Ceiling by Ay Tjoe Christine, which sold for HK$2.4 million ($310,256), well above the high estimate of HK$350,000, and The Purple Curtain by Vietnamese artist Le Pho, which sold for HK$2.9 million ($371,795), again clearing the high estimate of HK$800,000.

Said specialist Mok Kim Chuan, “as in previous seasons, bidding came from all over Asia with determined interest from new markets in the Greater China region.”

Zao Wou-Ki, a pioneer in abstract work, figured in five of the top-ten lots in the 20th-century Chinese art category, on April 2, with his 25.06.86 setting a new auction record when it sold for HK$25.3 million ($3.24 million). His 25.05.70 followed, selling for HK$24.2 million ($3.1 million). Both works were bought by Asian private buyers.

On April 3, the fine Chinese paintings sale realized HK$468 million ($60 million). A pair of gold screens, Willows at the Riverside; Begonias by Qi Baishi was bought by an Asian private bidder for HK$70.1 million ($9 million), three times the high estimate of HK$20 million. Mount Lu by Fu Baoshi was sold for HK$24.2 million ($3.1 million) at three times the high estimate of HK$7 million.

Asian Art Sales Dip From Year-Ago Highs

by Eileen Kinsella and Raj S. Rangarajan

NEW YORK—Asian art sales held in New York the week of March 19–23, yielded lower overall volumes than last year, despite broad international demand for certain categories. Christie’s realized over $60 million, for seven sales, including three private collections. The top category was the house’s sale of Chinese ceramics and works of art that had realized $23.3 million as ARTnewsletter was published. It was followed by a private collection sale of Indian and southeast Asian art, assembled by dealer and collector Doris Wiener, that took a record $12.8 million. By comparison, Christie’s took in $117 million at last spring’s sales, and $60 million in 2010.
Sotheby’s realized $61.8 million for four sales, led by classical Chinese paintings, which accounted for $35 million, or more than half of the total, followed by Chinese ceramics, which brought $20.7 million. Indian and southeast Asian art yielded $3.8 million, while modern and contemporary south Asian paintings brought $2.1 million. In 2011, Sotheby’s took in $84 million, compared with $22.6 million in 2010 (ANL, 4/5/11).

Modern Masters Lead South Asian Painting Sale

Christie’s sale of south Asian modern and contemporary art on March 21 realized $7.7 million for 124 lots offered. Of these, 85, or 69 percent, were sold. By value, the sale realized 82 percent.
The top lot was Tyeb Mehta’s Untitled (Figures with Bull Head), 1984, an oil on canvas that sold for $1.8 million, compared with an estimate of $1.5 million/2 million.
The second-highest lot was Akbar Padamsee’s Cityscape, 1959, which sold for $1.3 million against an unpublished estimate in the region of $1 million.
Also by Padamsee, Mirror Image, 1996, was the third-highest lot. The diptych oil on canvas sold for $422,500, falling within the $400,000/600,000 estimate.
Hugo Weihe, Christie’s international director of Asian art and specialist in South Asian modern and contemporary art, said “works from modern masters continue to lead sales and contemporary works received renewed interest.”
The rest of the sale was led by mainstays, including Francis Newton Souza and Maqbool Fida Husain, as well as more recently executed works, including those by Subodh Gupta.
Syed Haider Raza’s Untitled (Village), 1958, sold for $410,500, compared with an estimate of $200,000/300,000. The sale included a total of seven works by Raza that brought in just over $1 million altogether. Nuage Blanc, 1956, sold for $290,500 on an estimate of $150,000/200,000.
Souza’s Chance, 1966, also sold for $290,500, meeting the estimate of $250,000/350,000. A 2007, untitled oil on canvas, by Gupta, that featured the artist’s signature steel pots and pans, sold for $218,500 to a private Asian buyer.
Husain’s Untitled (Keehn Family Portrait), 1959, sold above the $100,000/150,000 estimate, for $206,500, to a dealer.
Said Weihe: “Cross-cultural buying continues to play a significant role in the development of this market, and this season’s was no exception. Contemporary works were mostly acquired by clients from the US, Europe, the UK, India and Hong Kong, with many of them being first time bidders.”
The Indian and southeast Asian art sale, also held March 21, realized $6.3 million, with 90, or 63 percent, of the 143 lots offered finding buyers. The top lot was a buff sandstone torso of Uma, 10th century (Khmer, Angkor period, Pre-Rup). It sold for $1.1 million, far surpassing the $350,000/450,000 estimate, and to a private European buyer. Japanese and Korean art contributed a more modest sum of $1.7 million with just 36 percent sold by value.
Christie’s auction of the Doris Wiener collection saw robust demand, with 346, or 93 percent, of 374 lots finding buyers. By value, the sale was 96 percent sold. Weihe said the auction marked a “milestone” and was the highest total ever achieved for a single-owner collection of classical Indian and southeast Asian Art at Christie’s. He added that the results are a reflection of a “market that honors quality and provenance.”
The top lot was a gilt bronze figure of Padmapani, 13th century (Nepal), that sold for $2.49 million, against an estimate of $250,000/350,000. Another bronze group of Somaskanda, ca. 11th century (South India, Chola period), sold at $1.8 million, compared with a high estimate of $1.2 million.
Sotheby’s March 19 modern and contemporary south Asian art sale brought a total of $2.12 million. Of the 84 lots offered, just 48, or 57.1 percent, were sold by lot. The auction was 41 percent sold by value.
Raza topped the sale, with Jalashaya, 2000. The piece sold for $242,500, falling within the $200,000/300,000 estimate, to a private Indian buyer. It was followed by Husain’s Untitled (Scientist), 1965, which also sold for $242,500, against an identical estimate of $200,000/300,000.
Jagdish Swaminathan’s Untitled (Bird, Tree & Mountain Series), 1972, sold for $194,500, well above the $80,000/120,000 estimate, to an Indian dealer. Specialist Priyanka Mathew noted several strong prices, but conceded that the market is “selective,” and yielded “mixed results” in certain areas.
There were four other works by Husain in the top lots: Udaipur, 1962, sold for $98,500, meeting the $80,000/120,000 estimate; Untitled (Horse), an undated oil on mounted canvas, sold for $62,500, compared with an estimate of $50,000/70,000; Untitled (Woman on a Horse), undated, sold for $56,250, exceeding the $15,000/20,000 estimate; and an untitled gouache and ink on paper, 1949, depicting a woman with a broom, sold for $52,500, compared with an estimate of $35,000/55,000.
The Sotheby’s March 21 sale of Indian and southeast Asian works of art totaled $3.8 million, with 72 percent sold by lot and 74 percent sold by value. The top lot was a standing Vishnu, ca. 12th century (Nepal), which was bought by an American buyer for $590,500, against a high estimate of $300,000. The second-highest lot was a polished brown sandstone of Uma, 11th century (Khmer, Baphuon period), which was bought for $530,500, over four times the high estimate of $120,000.
Anuradha Ghosh-Mazumdar, head of the Indian southeast Asian art department said, “top lots—sculptures of Vishnu and Uma were completely fresh to the market, which helped drive prices well over the high estimates and reflected a stable market in this category.”
At Sotheby’s March 20 Chinese ceramics and works of art sale, two “Heaven and Earth” revolving brushpots from the Qianlong period led the sale. Both of the rare pieces well exceeded their respective $120,000/150,000 and $80,000/120,000 estimates to achieve a combined total of $3.5 million. Henry Howard-Sneyd, Sotheby’s vice chair of Asian art, said: “collectors are prepared to fight for objects with rarity and good provenance when offered at conservative estimates.

Chinese Buyers Compete For Top Works at Hong Kong Sales

by Raj S. Rangarajan


NEW YORK—Christie’s Hong Kong autumn sales (Nov. 25–30) realized a combined total of HK$2.85 billion ($366 million) across 12 sales of paintings, wine, jewelry, watches and works of art. Fine art and related works totaled HK$1.5 billion ($189.8 million). Last year’s comparable total for fine art (ANL, 12/28/10) was HK$512.4 million ($65.9 million).

François Curiel, president of Christie’s Asia said, “our 50th sale season in Hong Kong saw great participation from Asia (87 percent), with 73 percent of the buyers coming from Greater China.”
The evening sales on Nov. 26, which included Asian 20th-century and contemporary art, and a private collection sale, “Faces of New China: An Important Private Collection,” totaled HK$397 million ($51 million).

Five of Zao Wou-Ki’s paintings led the evening and exceeded their presale estimates. Both Cerf volant et oiseaux, 1955, and 22.7.64 sold for HK$35.4 million ($4.6 million) compared with an estimate of HK$10 million/15 million and HK$15 million/20 million, respectively.

A more recent work by Japanese artist Aya Takano also saw intense demand from bidders; You Want to Get Out of Here, Don’t You?, 2007, sold for a record HK$3.4 million ($435,683). At the private collection sale, The Massacre at Chios, 1994, by Yue Minjun, sold for HK$32.6 million ($4.2 million).

Eric Chang, Christie’s international director of contemporary art in Hong Kong, said: “Overall we are pleased to see an uptake in cross-cultural buying by international collectors.”

The day sales of Asian contemporary and 20th-century art totaled HK$307.5 million ($39.4 million) with 76 percent selling by lot and 90 percent by value.

Sales of fine Chinese modern paintings totaled HK$595 million ($76.3 million) and fine Chinese classical paintings and calligraphy totaled HK$183 million ($23.5 million). Lotus, a set of modern scrolls by Cui Ruzhuo, dated “early summer, xinmao year (2011),” realized HK$123.9 million ($15.9 million), far exceeding its estimate and setting a new auction record for the artist.

Spectacular Hi-tech 3-D Film Immortals Promotes Greek Story

BY RAJ S. RANGARAJAN

It seems like a cross between Star Wars and Harry Potter. It has the seriousness of a war and the crafty playfulness of a Harry Potter. The gigantic settings and wide-angled sequences are out of this world, accentuated by 3-D and VFX technology. Director Tarsen Singh (The Cell) has succeeded in creating a grand illusion with masterful effects in cinematography and sound. Film frills and thrills take over where an antiquated story attempts to appeal.

Leading lady Phaedra (Freida Pinto)

The movie I am talking about is Immortals that was released on 11.11.11 and directed by Tarsem Singh, and written by brothers -- Charles Parlapanides and Vlas Parlapanides (Everything for a Reason). Female lead, Freida Pinto is not looking back after Slumdog Millionaire catapulted her into the international scene few years ago and the recent success of the hit movie The Rise of the Planet of the Apes. Producer Gianni Nunnari who produced action epic 300 also says of Pinto: “There are certain actors or actresses that grow within the time of the shooting and that was Freida.”


Leading man Theseus (Henry Cavill)


Pinto’s striking beauty and other-worldly air won Tarsem Singh’s immediate approval. “Phaedra needed to be exotic compared to most of the people in her world,” says Singh. “People might expect that because it’s a Greek film, she would be Greek, but that’s not what I envisioned. When I met Freida I just said, she’s it.” For her part, Pinto says, “she feels lucky to have had Singh to guide her. “Tarsem is one of the most encouraging directors you will ever meet,” she says.

Athena (Isabel Lucas)

Tarsen Dhandwar Singh has come a long way from the world of ad films (hit Pepsi commercial) and music videos. Born in Jalandhar, India, Singh schooled in Shimla, moved to America when he was 24 and graduated from the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California.


King Hyperion (Mickey Rourke)

In the November opening weekend on 11th, Tarsem became the first director of Indian origin in over six years to attain the No. 1 spot at the U.S. box office with Immortals scoring an estimated US$32 million in North America and $38 million internationally in 35 countries. Produced and released by Relativity Media, Singh's action film beat out new films from Hollywood's ‘A’ list including Adam Sandler's comedy Jack and Jill and Leonardo DiCaprio's J. Edgar about J. Edgar Hoover, former director of FBI, directed by Clint Eastwood. The last film by an Indian director to open at No. 1 in the U.S. was 2005's Dukes of Hazzard from filmmaker Jay Chandrashekar. M. Night Shyamalan in 2004 with The Village.

Special effects and photography keep one engrossed in Immortals while one tries to concentrate through the specially-provided 3-D shades. Huge battle scenes, mountains collapsing, and the gods and the Titans battling are a treat to watch. The film makers used a system called Inter Sense here just as in Avatar, where unparallel visual style and cutting edge systems were used for framing and composition.

The Immortals narrative highlights a ruthless King Hyperion (Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler), who leads his bloodthirsty army on a murderous rampage across Greece to find a deadly weapon, the lost Bow of Epirus, that will destroy humanity. With this invincible bow, Hyperion hopes to overthrow the gods of Olympus and become the undisputed master of the world.

A mortal -- a stonemason by trade -- named Theseus (played by British actor Henry Cavill -- Superman: Man of Steel) must lead the fight against Hyperion’s hordes with the fate of mankind and the Gods at stake. He has been chosen by Zeus, supreme deity of the ancient Greeks, for this important task. As village after village is obliterated, Theseus vows to avenge his mother, who was killed in one of Hyperion’s brutal raids. Luke Evans (The Raven) plays Zeus.

When Theseus meets the trained priestess and gifted Oracle, Phaedra (played by Freida Pinto, Slumdog Millionaire), Phaedra’s clairvoyant visions of the young man’s future convince her that he is the key to stopping the destruction. Phaedra sees Theseus holding the emperor’s belt which means he could be the savior. With her help, Theseus assembles a small band of followers and embraces his destiny in a final, do-or-die desperate battle.

Athena, played by Australian actress Isabel Lucas (Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen), is the Goddess of Wisdom and Zeus’ favorite daughter. She is her father’s trusted ally and advisor, but when warfare on earth threatens to destroy mankind, she defies Zeus and supports Theseus and his rebels among the divine inhabitants of Mount Olympus.

Poseidon, the God of the Sea, is played by Kellan Lutz (Twilight Series) and is ordered by his brother Zeus to allow mankind to settle its own scores. But like Athena, Poseidon has a mind of his own, and he finds an ingenious way to aid Theseus and his supporters. Stavros, played by Stephen Dorff (Somewhere), is a thief and has been enslaved by Hyperion along with Theseus and Phaedra. But the defiant one he sides with Theseus and fights against heavy odds. John Hurt (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Parts 1 & 2), as the older Zeus however delivers the best lines with authority.

One is reminded of the Clash of the Titans, released in 2010, except that the canvas here is gargantuan and seems larger thanks to the 3-D effect. In keeping with the times, period costumes are authentic, and Eiki Ishioka has done a terrific job. Some of the helmets such as Hyperion’s tends to be unusual, putting it mildly. But then we are thinking “period.”

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[Raj S. Rangarajan is a New York based freelance writer. He covers trend stories on art, reviews books and films for media based in New York; Toronto, Canada; Seoul, Republic of Korea; and India. He can be reached at raj.rangarajan@gmail.com]

Anurag Kashyap, Director, That Girl in Yellow Boots

BY RAJ S. RANGARAJAN

“I cast actors who don’t like to act” - Anurag Kashyap

Ruth (Kalki) massaging Diwakar (Naseeruddin Shah)

NEW YORK: In a candid talk in a New York hotel room, Kalki Koechlin (Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara, Dev D) and Anurag Kashyap (Dev D, Black Friday, and now director and co-writer for Yellow Boots) opened up about their latest film. The fact that these two stage actors are married to each other is incidental.

Ruth and boy friend Prashant Prakash


The obvious question: How difficult was it to direct your wife? Anurag shot back: Demanding. She (referring to Kalki, the co-writer) was the constant writer, demanding answers for everything. In what could be termed half-hearted jest, Kalki vowed “not to act in a movie where I am also the writer”. She added, “he doesn’t like to direct, he lets me be.”

At movie's premiere, the lead players and director, Kashyap


Any specific challenges you faced in shooting in Mumbai with constant traffic and crowds?

Anurag: “I had to hide cameras and shoot whenever and wherever – all in 13 days. We had no alternative, were in debt, we had to complete fast.”

Yellow Boots is a dark film about Mumbai’s underworld, about bribes, meaningful winks and nods. Ruth Edscer (Kalki) is desperately trying to locate her father. She is stubborn, an “illegal” in the country, is uncomfortable in her own sexuality and works for cash as a masseuse and one of her clients is Diwakar (Naseeruddin Shah). Relating to her real life, Kalki said, since she was born in India, she had to personally go through the hassles of obtaining her visas with its concomitant problems.

Gulshan Devaiah as the villain

Debutant Prashant Prakash (Prashant), who plays Ruth’s boy friend has the junkie role pat. Interestingly, Prashant and Kalki, the male and female leads in this film were co-winners in 2009 of the MetroPlus Playwright Award – a prize of Rs. 1 lakh for their entry ‘Skeleton Woman’ that was instituted by The Hindu for the best original, unpublished and unperformed English script.

Anurag elaborates: “An organic story with participation from all actors, with humor in the mundane in everyday life. All the actors are part of one theater group and generally hang out together. For most of them, this was their first film. I asked all of them to come over to my house (Versova in Mumbai), and just start talking, and all of them landed up in the film. I tell them what not to do, NOT what to do.”

Kalki, co-writer says, “I had no idea how to write cinematic writing and envision a movie, so I just wrote separate scenes and had conversations between the characters – people I have seen in my life, growing up in Bangalore – have seen uneducated gangsters with wads of money, who try to be sophisticated, or receptionists at corporate offices.” Bangalore-born Gulshan Devaiah (Chittiappa) is the gangster who has problems handling money and women. His previous film was Shaitaan. Puja Sarup, another stage actor who plays Maya, the talkative receptionist at the massage parlour is thoroughly in character all the time and keeps the film moving.

How Naseeruddin Shah became a supporter of Anurag’s is an interesting anecdote. “Initially when I approached him for acting in Black Friday he turned me down. He had known me as a theater person – not as a filmmaker. Later in a New York interview he had given to MTV, he had expressed a desire to work with me.” So, I promptly called him: “I have this film and I want you to act in Yellow Boots. We did all the shots in one day, and he was very generous.”

Kalki confessed that the first time I met him “I was star-struck. I went blank, I couldn’t remember my lines, it took me three takes; he’s so focused that he doesn’t shift his gaze off you, and that was unnerving. Once we got past that I was happy.”
Kalki Koechlin

Why the name? Kalki explained, “when we were writing the script, we were in London, we saw the yellow boots in a showroom: there were red, orange and yellow boots and the yellow stood out: less stereotypical than others, so…we thought of Ruth’s character, her existing displacement in a city such as Bombay and her persona in India, and we thought the yellow boots will go with the theme. They stand out in any scenario.”

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[Raj S. Rangarajan is a New York based freelance writer. He covers trend stories on art, reviews books and films for media based in New York; Toronto, Canada; Seoul, Republic of Korea; and India. He can be reached at raj.rangarajan@gmail.com]

Regional Demand Drives Hong Kong Sales

by Eileen Kinsella and Raj. S. Rangarajan

NEW YORK—Sotheby’s large and wide-ranging fall auctions in Hong Kong—the offerings of which ran from blue chip Bordeaux wines to antiquities, classical Chinese paintings and contemporary Asian art—once again underscored the intense demand from wealthy Asian buyers for fine art and other luxury goods.

The series was off to a strong start on Oct. 2 with Sotheby’s second offering of contemporary Chinese art from Belgian collectors Guy and Miriam Ullens. The sale, subtitled “Experimentation and Evolution,” featured 90 works, of which 84 (or 93 percent) were sold, for a total of HK$132.4 million ($17 million), well above the high HK$106 million estimate. By value the auction realized 94 percent. Combined with the earlier offering of works from the Ullens collection last spring (ANL, 4/19/11), the house has now sold a total of HK$556 million ($71.5 million) of the couple’s art.

The recent auction featured early works by major artists such as Zeng Fanzhi and Liu Ye with private Asian collectors accounting for all ten of the highest lots.

The top price of the sale was HK$20 million ($2.6 million) paid for Zeng’s Mask Series 1998 No. 26, an oil on canvas, 1998, that cleared the high end of the HK$20 million estimate. It was followed by Liu’s Portrait of Qi Baishi, an acrylic on canvas, 1996, that sold for HK$14 million ($1.8 million), well above the HK$7 million/9 million estimate. Evelyn Lin, head of contemporary Asian art said the results demonstrate a healthy market, adding that, “many of the top lots sold for multiples of the estimates and works created in the 1990s by established contemporary Chinese artists continue to achieve strong prices.”

The following day, Sotheby’s sale of modern and contemporary Southeast Asian paintings took in HK$83 million ($10.6 million) with 95 percent of the lots selling by value and 81 percent sold by lot. Tuak Manis (Sweet Wine), 1979, by Indonesian artist Hendra Gunawan sold for HK$7.2 million ($925,461) at four times the low estimate of HK$1.8 million.

The sale was notable for the number of lots sold at better-than-expected prices and several auction records were set for artists from Indonesia, Singapore and the Philippines. Mok Kim Chuan, Sotheby’s head of modern and contemporary Southeast Asian art said, “collectors responded with enthusiastic competition for appealing canvases. Record prices were achieved for Nanyang artists Cheong Soo Pieng and Georgette Chen, as well as for Swiss artist Theo Meier whose career was spent in Bali.”

Women In The Garden by Meier sold for HK$3 million ($402,564), compared with an estimate of HK$850,000/1.3 million, while Untitled (Balinese Girl) by Cheong sold for HK$2.1 million ($269,704), compared with an estimate of HK$240,000/380,000. Layers for the Circles by Ay Tjoe Christine sold for HK$1.8 million ($233,333), compared with an estimate of HK$200,000/300,000, and Chen’s Lotus sold for HK$1.1 million ($141,026), on an estimate of HK$250,000/350,000.

The highest prices of the week were for artist Zhang Xiaogang, whose works have been at the forefront of the explosion in Chinese contemporary art prices, and for Zao Wou-Ki.

At the 20th-century Chinese art sale on Oct. 3, the top lot was Zao’s 10.1.68, which sold for an artist record of HK$69 million ($8.8 million), nearly double the high HK$35 million estimate. Works by Zao accounted for seven of the ten-highest lots, bringing in a total of $16.6 million. This included the second-highest price of the sale for Vaque, which sold for HK$30 million ($3.8 million).

Sylvie Chen, head of Sotheby's 20th-century Chinese art department, said: “The strong market response to the Spring sale of this category allowed us to source a remarkably deep group of works by the influential Chinese modern master Zao Wou-Ki from collectors across Europe and the United States, which were fresh to the market.”

Other top-selling works included oil on canvas paintings by Wu Guanzhong. His Scenery of the Lijiang River, sold for HK$26 million ($3.4 million).The sale’s total was HK$337 million ($43 million) with 94 percent of the lots selling by value and 77 percent by lot.

In the contemporary Asian art sale, also held Monday, the totals were HK$228 million ($29.2 million) with 88 percent sold by value and 73 percent by lot.

A work by Zhang Xiaogang led the sale, when the 1994 oil on canvas, Bloodline: Big Family No. 1, was bought by a private European collector for HK$65.6 million ($8.4 million), compared with an estimate of HK$58 million/65 million. A record was set for Zeng Fanzhi with five of his oil paintings in the top lots. His oil on canvas, Mask Series 1998 No. 5, sold for HK$31 million ($4 million), compared with an estimate of HK$27 million/35 million. Series 2, No. 11, painted in 1991-92 by Fang Lijun was bought by a European bidder for HK$10 million ($1.3 million), on an estimate of HK$3.5 million/4.5 million.

Sotheby’s specialist Lin said that there was “strong international participation at all levels of the market. We were privileged to be able to offer a core group of masterpieces by key artists, sourced from collections in the U.S. and Europe, and the market pursued them with vigor.”

Sotheby’s said its Oct. 4 sale of fine Chinese paintings marked the highest grossing sale in this category to date, realizing a total of HK$738 million ($95 million), for 364 lots offered. Just a fraction of that group, 15 works or four percent, did not find buyers. By value the sale realized 99.3 percent.

The top lot was Zhang Daquian’s Self Portrait in the Yellow Mountains, which sold for HK$47 million ($6 million) compared with an estimate of HK$8 million/12 million. It was followed by Fu Baoshi’s Boating Under the Willows, which sold for HK$31 million ($4 million), on an estimate of HK$12 million/15 million. Many of the top lots far exceeded expectations, such as Fu’s Pavilion in the Solitude of the Mountains, which sold for HK$30 million ($3.8 million) compared with an estimate of HK$12 million/15 million.

Art season going strong in American Northeast

Indian artists have been part of the season's showings in New York and Washington D. C.

RAJ S RANGARAJAN

The Fall art season in New York and Washington D.C. has been active with art galleries displaying contemporary Indian artists. As part of the Phillips Collection in the capital, Tamil Nadu's Alwar Balasubramaniam (born 1971) has on display Sk(in) - a two-part sculptural installation - the first, made of steel that suggests tree branches and occupies the Hunter Courtyard, and the second that extends indoors, to engage the 'skin' of the walls connecting the museum's Goh Annex and Sant Building.

Titled Intersections, the artist's creations complement modern and contemporary art practices while activating spaces that were formerly not typical exhibit areas. In short, Balasubramaniam goes beyond the literal brick-and-mortar confines and occasionally infiltrates into another indulgent space, creating in the bargain new relationships with its own surprises.

Balasubramaniam, who has also studied in Edinburg and Vienna, evokes fragmented body parts, familiar objects or organic forms while exploring the limits of perception. He is pushing the envelope - as it were - almost to the point of abstraction. As seen here, the artist's current oeuvre revolves around the concept of transition and transformation. His sculpture fuses intellectual, emotional, and spiritual concerns rooted reportedly in Hinduism and Buddhism.

Lonely Furrow, an exhibition of new paintings at Talwar Gallery, New York by Patna-born Shambhavi Singh explores the artist's homeland themes and moves effortlessly to the tactile medium of cotton pulp, occasionally using palms and fingers to paint vibrant and delicate works. Focusing on the rural landscape and agriculture, the artist empathizes with the solitary farmer, who is inextricably linked to the earth that feeds him in India.

The work seen here forms a poetic narrative that envelopes in intense, rich blues free-painted blue pulp works that evoke forces of nature as the night sky, turbulent clouds, and the infinite cosmos. Her visual reach extends to growth, harvest and the interconnectedness of nature - a visual treat.

Born in 1966, Shambhavi lives and works in Delhi and her works have been exhibited in India, South Africa, Australia, New York and the Netherlands, and in 2010 was Artist-in-Residence at Singapore.

Back in New York, in Part II of Aicon's Progressives on Paper exhibition, Francis Newton Souza (1924-2002), who revelled in being controversial and at times, outrageous, with his not-very-subtle nudes, continues to be popular. His oil-on-board, Christ on Palm Sunday painted in 1956 is seen here.

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(A New York based independent trend writer, Raj S. Rangarajan reports on the art market and auto shows and reviews films for media based in New York; Toronto, Canada; and India.)

RAJ S RANGARAJAN