Christie’s to auction Mahinder and Sharad Tak’s Indian art collection

The Banyan Tree by Bhupen Khakhar. Credit: Christie’s Photo

Untitled (Devi) by Manjit Bawa. Credit: Christie’s Photo

Still Life by F N Souza. Credit: Christie’s Photo

In the first big auction season of the year in March, Christie’s is set to offer the seminal collection of Indian art belonging to the influential Indian-American couple, Mahinder and Sharad Tak.

The sale, titled The Visionary Collection of Mahinder and Sharad Tak, will be part of the South Asian Modern + Contemporary Art live auction by Christie’s in New York on March 23 during Asian Art Week, when important auctions and exhibitions of Asian art are held in the Big Apple.

Though the total number of works on offer in the sale has not been disclosed yet, the preview of the auction has already begun. A selection of works was shown in London earlier this month, while private viewings will be held in Mumbai between February 20 and 25.

The final preview of the select works will be held just days before the sale, in New York from March 18 to 22.

The collection has been put together by the couple over the past half-century and has become one of the most important Indian art collections in North America.

“We are honoured to be able to offer a selection of works from their storied collection for sale this spring,” said Nishad Avari, head of sale, South Asian Modern + Contemporary Art at Christie’s. “Highlights include major paintings by Bhupen Khakhar, Manjit Bawa, Arpita Singh and Sayed Haider Raza with impressive exhibition histories, appearing at auction for the first time.”

The most important highlight of the upcoming auction is a 1984 oil on canvas by Bhupen Khakhar (1934-2004), titled The Banyan Tree. It is estimated to be between $1,800,000 and $2,500,000 (approximately Rs 13.5 crore and Rs 18.8 crore). At that estimate, it is likely to set the auction record for self-taught Khakhar, who is widely regarded as India’s first pop artist.

Untitled (Devi) by Manjit Bawa (1941-2008), a 1993 oil on canvas is also one of the top-billed works on offer. It is estimated to fetch between $600,000 and $800,000 (approximately Rs 4.5 crore and Rs 6 crore).

Other important lots on offer include ̛major paintings by the country’s evergreen popular masters such as SH Raza, MF Husain, Arpita Singh, Rameshwar Broota, Jogen Chowdhury and Jagadish Swaminathan to name some, all of whom are or were great friends of the collectors.

Mahinder and Sharad Tak are well-known as philanthropists and are the leading members of the strong Indian-American community in the US. Mahinder is a radiation oncologist who also served in the US Army and retired as a colonel. An MBBS from Lady Hardinge College, Delhi, she moved to the US to specialise in radiation (oncology). She was soon married to Sharad Tak, an electrical engineering graduate from IIT-Bombay who received a Master of Science in computer science from the University of Buffalo. The duo has been involved in fund-raising campaigns for prominent Americans such as former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former president Barack Obama.

The couple’s home in Bethesda, Maryland, is renowned for housing works by the Who’s Who of modern Indian art.

(The writer is a New Delhi-based editor, writer and arts consultant)

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