Mumbai: In just five days, Jangarh Singh Shyam’s auction record was broken. An untitled 1999 painting by the artist sold for Rs 18 crore at Mumbai’s Pundole Gallery on 24 September, less than a week after another of his works fetched Rs 2.88 crore at auction.
The 91-by-69-inch acrylic on canvas shows a spiritual figure surrounded by snakes and birds in a tree. It had been estimated at Rs 4 to 6 crore and had never previously appeared at any auction.
Three bidders were in the race at one point, before it came down to a neck-and-neck between two eager buyers. Each new bid then pushed the price up by Rs 1 crore until one bidder dropped out at Rs 18 crore.
Shyam had set his previous record only on 19 September, when his Bel Mukhota (Gond) (1999) sold at a Saffronart auction in New Delhi for Rs 2.88 crore, including the buyer’s premium.
“The complex composition reveals the artist’s ability to paint to any scale. His patterning and technique are varied across the composition and show his experimental nature and his skill and versatility as an artist,” Pundole Gallery director Rob Dean said.
Shyam was born in 1962 in Patangarh village in Madhya Pradesh’s Mandla district and belonged to the Pardhan community. He began by painting on the walls of houses in his village.
In the 1980s, artist Jagdish Swaminathan spotted his work and brought him to Bhopal. In Madhya Pradesh, he began working at Bharat Bhavan and started painting on paper and canvas.
Animals, trees and other natural forms appeared frequently in Shyam’s work, often made up of dense dots and lines. The style later came to be known as Jangarh Kalam.
Shyam went on to exhibit internationally. He also painted the dome of Bharat Bhavan and parts of the Madhya Pradesh Vidhan Sabha in Bhopal. He died in Japan in 2001 while on an artist residency.
Three other works by Shyam were also sold above their estimates at the Pundole auction. MF Husain’s Red Girl fetched Rs 65 crore at the same sale.