Fulfilling the needs of art lovers

The online auction house, AstaGuru has completed a decade of curating and showcasing auctions for various artefacts, including art, collectibles and luxury items. Says Tushar Sethi, CEO of AstaGuru, “It has been a great learning experience, and the journey has not just been as growing as a company but it has been bigger considering the Indian art market has also bloomed along the way. The biggest achievement has been of curating catalogues which fulfill the needs and aspiration of art lovers and collectors.” In the next decade too, he believes the platform will remain relevant in the ever-growing Indian art market. “We will continue to curate auctions which are well-researched and relevant. We will be expanding our product categories and diversifying into various segments as well,” he says. He tells us more about the modern Indian art auction they have planned...

How did you plan to make the auction extra special this time?

The past 10 years have been a wonderful as well as a great learning experience. I wanted to curate a catalogue which would communicate our gratitude and the fervour of revelry of having completed 10 years as AstaGuru. We wanted to present our patrons with significant and important artworks in order to make this edition special and befit the occasion.

(Left to Right: Tushar Sethi; Raja Ravi Varma’s artwork)

There are some hugely successful artists associated with the modern art auction this time. Was there a certain theme or subject that you took upon with the auction?

While collecting the works for this auction, our only prerogative was to excavate important and historically significant artworks by the doyens of Modern Indian art. There is also a theme of celebration intertwined, considering it’s our 10 year anniversary auction.

Who among the artists are you most excited about? Which of the artworks do you think art connoisseurs will be most excited about? 

There is something in for everyone, the various time periods are well-represented and each work is unique and special. From the inception phase of modern Indian art, we have works by Jamini Roy, Nicholas Roerich, Amrita Sher-Gil, Raja Ravi Varma, Gaganendranath Tagore and Abanindranath Tagore to name a few. Further down the line, we have three significant works by SH Raza which represents his oeuvre, a juggernaut work by MF Husain which sprawls across 20 feet, an important bull series work by Tyeb Mehta from the year 2000 and Ram Kumar’s rare figurative work from 1950 to state a few. Works by artists such as Manjit Bawa, Anjolie Ela Menon, a sculpture by Somnath Hore are also there.

The AstaGuru 10th Anniversary Modern Indian Art auction will take place online on March 26 and 27, 2018.