South Asian art sale makes £5.5 million - 17/06/2010

Sotheby's held the South Asian Art Sale on June 15th and raised £5.5 million in total, while auction records were broken for some artists.

The auction record for Rabindaranth Tagore was broken as 12 of his paintings sold for £1.6 million.

These paintings, presented by the Dartington Hall Trust, a charitable organisation from South Devon, were deemed by the auction house to be the highlights of the sale.

Untitled (Portrait of a woman) fetched £310,000, breaking his record of £144,500 for a single painting established in 2008.

Holly Brackenbury, deputy director in South Asian art at Sotheby's, said: "The rarity and distinguished provenance of the 12 paintings, in addition to the fact that they had never appeared on the open market before, made their appearance at auction a very exciting opportunity."

Some of the proceeds from the sale will go towards a five year plan at the Dartington estate, which will expand their programmes in the arts, social justice and sustainability.

Tagore was a Bengali poet, musician and painter who lived during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

He took up painting in his 60s and his works are known for their peculiarities in colouring schemes.

Posted by Harry Baxter