Picasso, Souza most widely sold at India Art Fair

Works in newer mediums such as computer generated graphics and animation as well as video art attracted buyers with a total of five crore worth of new media being sold according to organisers.

"Out of the European moderns Pablo Picasso sold the most and out of the Indian moderns works by F N Souza were the most widely bought," said organisers of the four-day India Art Summit which concluded here yesterday.

There was a hike in the number of new and first-time buyers at the fair with galleries reporting up to 80 per cent of works sold to new and first time buyers, an increase from 30-40 per cent sold to the same category in the fair's previous edition.

Artworks in the range of Rs 1-5 lakh were reported to be sold to particularly first time buyers, said Summit organisers.

The mega art event saw participation from 84 galleries from 20 countries with 34 international galleries. Artworks by over 500 artists ranging from a few thousands going up into crores were displayed at the event.

Indian contemporaries who sold the best included Subodh Gupta, Bharti Kher and Sudarshan Shetty. Top international museums bought works of Indian contemporaries and there were several commissions from museums.

Many big ticket sales were also made to private collectors from abroad like USA, Europe, Israel and Hong Kong.

Coimbatore-based sugar baroness Rajshree Pathy, Lekha and Anupam Poddar, the mother-son duo of Gurgaon-based Devi Art Foundation, Malvider Singh of Religare Art and Kiran Nadar, wife of HCL founder Shiv Nadar, were among the Indian art collectors who visited the fair.

The special by invite VIP preview on January 20 recorded 12,000 visitors, including over 500 collectors from India and abroad.

Entry to the fair held at Pragati Maidan in the capital was ticketed with tickets priced at Rs 200 each. However, the entry was free in the last day of the fair. Many students, art enthusiasts and children had visited the fair yesterday.

The Summit also saw some high profile visitors like Congress President Sonia Gandhi, Cultural Minister Kumari Selja, Vasundhare Raje Scindia, Maneka Gandhi, ICCR President Karan Singh and actress Sharmila Tagore.