Sabavala Fetches Record Sum at Bonhams

It was the last stage of Padma Shri awardee Jehangir Sabavalas artistic career a celebration of the stylised human figure as pilgrim,wanderer and survivor of cataclysm,as independent curator Ranjit Hoskote puts it which marked the latest Bonhams annual summer sale of Modern and Contemporary South Asian art.

2 min readJun 10, 2012 01:27 AM IST First published on: Jun 10, 2012 at 01:27 AM IST

It was the last stage of Padma Shri awardee Jehangir Sabavala’s artistic career — “a celebration of the stylised human figure as pilgrim,wanderer and survivor of cataclysm”,as independent curator Ranjit Hoskote puts it — which marked the latest Bonhams’ annual summer sale of Modern and Contemporary South Asian art. At the auction,which was held in London on Thursday,Sabavala’s Vespers I was sold for a whopping £ 2,53,650 (approx Rs 2.2 crore) . The work,an oil on canvas,dated ’68 below the canvas,showing a group of nuns standing in front of a worship house-like structure,was initially estimate to be sold at £ 1,00,000 to £ 1,50,000,but a saleroom tussle between two buyers shot up the amount. “Firstly,you don’t see many works by Sabavala in such an auction and secondly,the prices of his works rose after his death.

So,the sale is a pleasant surprise,” says Gayatri Juneja,India representative for Bonhams.