Tyeb Mehta’s 1977 work, Husain’s Mother Teresa to go under hammer

Works by some of India’s most acclaimed modernists would soon be going under the hammer Mumbai-based auction house AstaGuru’s upcoming auction, scheduled for December 14-17. The auction brings together important works by artists who shaped the trajectory of modern Indian art. Highlights include a canvas from Tyeb Mehta’s highly transformative period, MV Dhurandhar watercolours, evocative creations by Bengal School luminaries such as Jamini Roy and Asit Haldar, and significant pieces by members of the Progressive Artists’ Group, including MF Husain, FN Souza, KH Ara, Sadanand Bakre, Krishen Khanna and KK Hebbar, among others.

Talking about the upcoming auction, Historic Masterpieces, Manoj Mansukhani, director of Marketing, said: “This auction not only showcases rare creations by India’s most influential masters but also traces the evolution of artistic thought across an entire century, from early Bengal School pioneers to the radical innovations of the Progressive Artists’ Group and beyond. Each work in this catalogue embodies a moment of artistic breakthrough or cultural exchange, offering collectors the opportunity to engage with pieces of genuine historical importance.”

Also featured are works by celebrated masters such as NS Bendre, Jehangir Sabavala, Manjit Bawa and Ganesh Pyne, further enriching the diversity and depth of the curation.

Adorning the catalogue cover is an exceptional canvas from Tyeb Mehta’s highly transformative period. Created in 1977, this striking work demonstrates Mehta’s complete command. The protagonist, rendered in warm, saturated tones that contrast sharply with the cool planar background, appears suspended between composure and shock, her limbs gently unravelled by the slashing black bar that anchors the composition.

The auction will also offer two stunning canvases by Manjit Bawa. ‘Flying’ showcases Bawa’s fascinating artistic evolution, but more importantly is firmly attributed with his formative style. Another work by him exemplifies the artist’s poetic engagement with the human figure.

Also going under the hammer is a set of two sketches and a calligraphic work by Xu Beihong, who is regarded as one of the most influential figures in the formation of modern Chinese art. His visit to Santiniketan in 1939-40, at Rabindranath Tagore’s invitation, became one of the most significant cultural exchanges of modern Asia.

A Somnath Hore sculptural work reveals a quiet yet searing distillation of his lifelong engagement with the human condition. Two important works by KK Hebbar are also part of the auction. One depicts lord Ganesha into a radiant, near-abstract presence, revealing his characteristic ability to merge spiritual iconography with modernist expression. Another work by him emerges from a deeply reflective period in Hebbar’s practice. During the mid to late 1970s, he absorbed the turbulence of his times, dwelling on the psychological aftermath of the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War.

Another important highlight of the auction is a stunning rendition of Krishen Khanna’s biblical theme engagement with a work titled ‘The Last Supper’. In this work, Khanna reinterprets one of the most iconic scenes in Western art through his distinct humanist and expressionist sensibility. An iconic Souza landscape reflects a late-period return to architectural themes, reimagined through the sharper graphic language that characterised his 1990s style.

Another important offering in the auction is a work from MF Husain’s famed Mother Teresa series. Husain orchestrates a tableau of movement where Mother Teresa’s presence becomes an anchoring force around which the surrounding figures, women carrying water pots, children in playful motion, circle like fragments of a larger human narrative.

‘Conspirators’ is an important creation by artist Jehangir Sabavala. Painted in 1992, the work is one of the most evocative articulations of this period, a tableau where the monumental and the intimate converge, and where Sabavala’s lifelong quest for quiet drama finds one of its most compelling expressions.