When we look at today's sale of Indian contemporary paintings, sculpture, antiques and artifacts in London, we see that the market for Indian contemporary art still consists largely of NRIs and that auction houses are now coming closer to Indian taste and patronage. Also, the phenomenal rise in the price of Indian contemporary art has resulted in bringing far better works to the auction houses.

The forte of the sale are two temperas in canvas laid out on board by Ganesh Pyne: The Fisherman (17.5 x 21.5 inches), painted in 1979, and Coconut Thief (20.75 x 27.25 inches), painted in 1976. Both are in the Rs 6.3-8.4 lakh category, a price that is probably higher than even Mughal miniatures.

The Fisherman is an extraordinary work that breaks down the barriers between the underground and the above-ground -- the inner and outer reality -- and ties them together with the web of a net floating above a boat. The subtlety with which the artist has presented the image is remarkable.

The auction will also feature a spate of works by M F Husain at about the same price as these of Pyne, for a large canvas. But there are a number of undistinguished interiors the artist did for a children's furniture shop in Mumbai between 1941 and 1948, each priced at around $100 or less, which are a good buy for the autograph hunter. Jamini Roy's work, still much in demand despite its large quantity and authentication difficulties, is still in the forefront.

But the artist whose fate hangs in the balance this time is F N Souza, a large number of whose works are on sale at fairly moderate prices. He runs the gauntlet this time as Husain did earlier.

However, what will interest the serious collector are the works of A R Chughtai, rarely available in India, with prices going up to $3,000. Then there are V S Gaitonde's old figurative works (1953), which, although priced at between £800-1,200 each, may fetch more. A landscape belonging to S H Raza's early period, too, is likely to be of interest, as are the works of K H Ara, K K Hebbar, N S Bendre and the single G R Santosh semi-abstract of 1953.

The large number of works of the 1950s and 1960s that have surfaced, as well as those of Bengal artists like Gaganendranath Tagore and Ram Kinkar Baij (a small water-colour of this school is priced at $3,000-4,000), show that a far greater sense of history prevails among today's collectors. The fashionable names are relegated to an undistinguished work or two. That is why we find that artists like Somenath Hore, Satish Panchal (now living in Paris), Beohar Ram Manohar Sinha and Sohan Quadri have come to the forefront. So we can hope that in the near future, we may be able to see some of Roop Krishna's major works -- from among those in Britain -- in the auction houses, as they are unavailable in India.

Among the younger artists, Arpana Caur's work has appreciated considerably and there are three works for sale at today's auction. The prices reach the £500 mark for a canvas of 1991 that is 69 x 56 inches. This time, we have also the work of Paresh Maity, Citrovan Majumdar, S Visvanadhan, Shamshad, Rekha Rao, S Nadagopal and Gogi Saroj Pal, among our younger artists (1970s to 1990s).

Today's auction is perhaps the first that can be said to be a truly representative one, with a number of artists from almost every trend in our contemporary art included in it. This reflects some important realities.

First, that the pitch is going to be much more level in the future, with connections and hype counting for less than they do today. In other words, the serious buyer has a safer market. Secondly, Indian patronage dominates our contemporary art scene, as indeed it should. This makes international fads and fashions less capable of affecting our art. And that is how it should be.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.