Sotheby's auction: Works of five Bangladesh artists cross all expectations

Artworks by five Bangladeshi artists received greater response than expected at an auction held by Sotheby’s in London, The works by Shahid Kabir and Kalidas Karmakar set records.

The auction, titled “Modern and Contemporary South Asian Art,” was held last Tuesday. Alongside Bangladesh, works by artists from India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka were also featured. Sotheby’s organised the event with a total of 54 lots.

Seven works by Bangladeshi masters Zainul Abedin, Shahid Kabir, Mohammad Kibria, Rashid Choudhury and Kalidas Karmakar were sold in the auction. Among these, paintings by Shahid Kabir and Kalidas Karmakar appeared at a Sotheby’s auction for the first time.

In a press release about the event, Manjari Sihare Sutin, Co-Worldwide Head of Sotheby’s South Asian Modern and Contemporary Art Department, said that in the 30-year history of the department, this auction achieved the highest sales value ever. In addition, seven new records were set.

A painting by master artist Zainul Abedin was sold for £50,800 (around Tk 8.3 million). It had been expected to sell for between £15,000 and £20,000. Sotheby’s website did not list a title for the work. It was a watercolor on paper, painted in 1960.

In 2024, at Sotheby’s South Asian Modern and Contemporary Art auction in London, another painting by Zainul Abedin, created in 1970, was sold. Its estimated value was set at £10,000 to £15,000, but it fetched £516,000 (around Tk 82.5 million). This remains the highest auction price ever for a painting by Zainul Abedin.

Sotheby’s did not list titles for the two paintings by artists Mohammad Kibria and Rashid Choudhury that were sold at the auction.

Kibria’s painting, an oil on canvas created in 2003, sold for £35,560 (around Tk 5.85 million). Its estimated value had been between £12,000 and £18,000.

Rashid Choudhury’s painting, an oil on canvas from 1982, also sold for £35,560 (around Tk 5.85 million). This painting put up for auction by a collector from Indonesia, had an estimated value between £10,000 and £15,000.

Three paintings by Shahid Kabir were sold for £53,340 (around Tk 8.7 million). Prior to the auction, it had been estimated that they might sell for between £7,500 and £9,500.

The three works sold at the auction are “Mosque, Lalon and Temple,” “Lalon on a White Horse,” and “The Jatra Stage of Time.” All three are tempera on board. They were sent to the auction by a collector from Spain, whose name Sotheby’s did not disclose.

Before the auction, in response to questions sent via email, Sotheby’s official Manjari Sihare Sutin said these masterworks are a celebration of the Sufi saint Lalon. Lalon was a 18th-19th century mystic who welcomed people from all backgrounds and rejected divisions of caste, class, and religion.

The painting by Kalidas Karmakar sold at the auction is titled “Holy War.” Created in 1978-79 using pen, ink, gouache and collage, it was consigned by a collector from Spain. The painting had been expected to sell for £1,500 to £2,500 but was sold for £6,350 (around Tk 1.05 million).
Seven new records

In international auctions, when the sale price of an artist’s work exceeds the previous highest price achieved by any of their works, it is considered a global auction record. At this Sotheby’s auction, seven artists set new records: Shahid Kabir (Bangladesh), Kalidas Karmakar (Bangladesh), Francis Newton Souza (India), Ganesh Pyne (India), Laxman Shrestha (India), Laxman Pai (India), and Adeela Suleman (Pakistan).

This auction was organised with a total of 54 lots. According to Sotheby’s, collectors from Asia, North America, and Europe actively participated, and one-third of them were first-time participants.