New York, March, 2004 – This month New York sees the two art auction giants and arch rivals Sotheby’s & Christie’s face off with Indian Art. Sotheby’s are holding their Indian Art auction on March 24th while Christie’s plan it on March 25th.

Coincidence, coincidence – both auction houses start off with works by Hemen Mazumdar and Jamini Roy. Following this is a plethora of works by Contemporary Indian Artists.

More coincidence! Both houses are putting up early Tyeb Mehta’s , three Ramkumar’s each, Husain’s, Prabhakar Barwe’s & B Prabha’s.

Sotheby’s are also auctioning early & late Hebbar’s, Husain’s “Ragmala” and F N Souza’s “Mystic Repast” – a painting expected to fetch around $100,000.

Christie’s are bringing in early Akbar Padamsee’s and S H Raza’s. Their star attraction is a 57 x 89 inch J Swaminathan abstract also expected to go at $100,000.

Sotheby’s also have some Ganesh Pynes while Christie’s have a set of Arpita Singhs to round off.

While there is overall interest in the competition between the two houses there is special focus on whether Christie’s Swaminathan will outdo Sotheby’s Husain and Souza or the other way round.

These sales will be keenly watched by the art world as they mark the beginning of an Indian summer.

All in all, interesting times ahead for Indian Art.