Theme For a Scheme

Themed auctions appear to be the new way of attracting buyers who are interested in collecting a particular type of art. While some of the themes seem almost lame,there are also edgy groupings that direct serious collectors to choose one auction over the other,or guide the connoisseur toward that elusive masterpiece.

“We’re catering to a global market so even if Mumbai has only two seasons,a spring auction works for the rest of the world,” reasons Dinesh Vazirani,CEO of saffronart.com. “While there are obvious advantages of broad-basing one’s auction theme with something for everyone,the focus of a theme is drawing together a certain set of collectors,” says Vazirani,pointing out that Philips De Puri has been instrumental in popularising themed auctions. “After their black-and-white consignment on photography,we were inspired to do a curated photography auction too,” adds Vazirani.

For Christie’s,the need of the hour is dictating the theme of the auction. The funds raised by this environment friendly auction will go to four NGOs working on environmental programmes in all seven continents.

“Science and art are the most powerful forces in the world for changing perception and behaviour,and the world’s most significant artists have come together in support of these leading environmental NGOs,” says Susan Cohn Rockefeller,chairperson of the event. Many of the artists contributing works draw inspiration from the fragility of the natural world. American born German artist Wolf Kahn has rendered a lush landscape while Subodh Gupta has donated a work that underlines the harshness of urban life and challenges accepted notions of what constitutes a ‘natural’ landscape. “This is the kind of collective action that will help us meet the tremendous challenges our earth faces,” adds David Rockefeller.

Some auction themes are based on what the auction house thinks their collector base wants—this is the case with the Osian’s Masterpieces auction where premium works by Menon and Tyeb Mehta are obvious money-spinners for the auction house. However Neville Tuli,the Chairman of Osian’s,points out that most of his earlier auctions,like Historical Leela have introduced artists whose significance has been substantial but who have remained in the shadows. “We introduced names like J Sultan Ali,Chittoprasad and Nicholas Roerich to the art market,” he says.