Osian's Auction Catalogue Masterpieces and Museum-Quality III | March 2004

19 Osian’s – Connoisseurs of Art introduces a new financial indicator & index – S.I.R. (Square Inch Rate) calculated from our Financial Archives & Databases as part of our ADRC for the Indian Contemporary Arts. Over time students & the lay public will also require such data, as will the tax & customs authorities, so as to better understand the art market as it matures, however for the present the data would be of most use to the serious collector & investor of art, especially the financial & corporate institutions who are now considering entering the art market in a more systematic manner. As with all our financial responsibilities, we reititerate that art is about creativity, aesthetics & history first and foremost, but once the artist decides to enter the material context and seeks to sell their work & share this process of valuation, the long held hypocrises about saying art is invaluable, it is beyond value, and the like, sounds stupid, let alone reeks of double-standards. It has become a commodity once you place it in the market-place. The question is how to disseminate both the educational and aesthetic knowledge to the public, hand in hand with providing financial credibility. It is in fulfilling this dual responsibility, simultaneously, that Osian’s plays its pioneering role. Adopting any financial tool, analysis or the like in helping to interpret art requires a strong dose of detachment and objectivity, for like the most diehard idealists, we at Osian’s also have struggled deeply with finding a balance & structure so that creative integrity does not compromise to financial imperatives. Osian’s is a living proof of not compromising creativity, vision and the rights of an arts institution to be financially independent, whatever the obstacles. I make this statement, knowing the conflict we Indians have had with placing financial value on our cultural and artistic heritage. It is something we have shied away from, and in the process we have totally failed to build a world-class infrastructure for the arts and our creative minds. It is time to let the resistance dissolve but simultaneously we need to deepen our resolve that for every financial focus we make, we take responsibility for a greater educational role, whether it be in building archives, or producing high-quality publications or teaching the subject to more with a renewed joy for learning or creating some kind of knowledge-base which takes forward the whole credibility of the arts as a value-system, as a basis of building a more mature nation. The financial database built up by myself & Osian’s now covers over 100 years of transactions & pricing in Indian modern & contemporary art across the country. It is by far the most comprehensive database of its kind, and given it is a small part of a larger archive on the Indian contemporary arts, its credibility is enhanced by the interaction which occurs on many different non- financial levels. In this publication we present only the most basic statistics to start the ball rolling, so that greater financial analysis seaps into the market psyche, replacing some of the ad hocism which is the perennial companion of market making for the arts. We cannot stop people from attaching financial value to aesthetics and history, hence it is best to equip them with greater facts, clarity and transparency. ART AS INVESTMENT An Introductory Note: The OSIANs S.I.R. Analysis The OSIANs Square Inch Rate [S.I.R.] Analysis SIR The Rate in Indian rupees per Square Inch of the painting, drawing or graphic art of an individual artist. Average SIR The Average SIR across all media, within a specified time period Present Estimate The SIR calculated from the Lower Estimate in the MMQ III Auction Auction Average The Total Lower Estimate Value divided by the total area of the paintings in the Auction Previous High The Highest SIR achieved for a particular painting by the artist at a particular auction Assumptions Rates are derived from using actual final prices (After Buyer’s Premium where applicable & conversion into INR at the then existing rate of exchange) of all sold lots [post-auction sales not included] in all professional public auctions on Indian contemporary Art, within or outside India, held between 1 October 1992 & 30 December 2003 held by the following organisations: Bonham’s, Bowring’s, Christie’s, HEART, Osian’s, Saffron.com & Sotheby’s. The table on the following page represents a listing of the S.I.R. according to the Lower Estimate Value in this Current Auction: Masterpieces & Museum-Quality III alongside the Previous Highs recorded in a public auction since 1992 ART AS INVESTMENT