Make classic art yours

The twentieth auction by Bid & Hammer has paintings from Manjit Bawa, MF Husain, J Swaminathan, VS Gaitonde, FN Souza, NS Bendre and also a rare painting attributed to Raja Ravi Varma. The traditional, modern and contemporary Indian art online auction will be held on November 7 and 8.

Alongside prominent works by these stalwarts of modern Indian art, on offer are rare Tanjore, Kalighat, Murshidabad and Bengal School paintings to compliment the works of important artists Jogen Chowdhury, Ram Kumar, GR Santosh, KK Hebbar and the contemporaries like Thota Vaikuntam, Padmanabh Bendre, Rekha Rao, SG Vasudev, Shobha Broota and G R Iranna amongst others. With a total of 55 lots on offer, the estimates begin from as low as Rs 4,000 going upto Rs 5 crore and as always, the origin and provenance of the works standout with many of them coming as they are from the artists directly and acquired by notable collectors.

Making their debut in an auction catalogue are artists Giridhar Gowd and Bharat Thakur. Hailing from Guntur District of Andhra Pradesh, Gowd's art speaks for itself. At the heart of his creative endeavour is his engagement with the country's visual art tradition particularly the murals and miniature paintings. On the other hand, is Bharat Thakur – a poet, famous yoga exponent and for the large part of the last decade a prolific artist who works on a global platform and addresses a multicultural audience. The poem below is the reflection of his thought process in creating this large, colourful yet dark, acrylic on canvas work titled 'Awash' estimated at Rs 8 – 10 lakhs.