For the first time, the $1 million barrier has been breached in  the field of contemporary Indian art following Christie’s  September 21 sale of Indian and Southeast Asian art.   A new world auction record for modern and contemporary Indian art  was established when Tyeb Mehta’s “Mahisasura” was bought by a  private collector for $1,584,000, against a presale estimate of  $600/800,000. The artist was present at the sale.   The result quintuples the previous world auction record, which  was set at Christie’s New York in 2002 when “Celebration,” a  painting by the same artist, achieved $317,500, becoming the  first contemporary Indian painting to have ever surpassed the  $100,000 price limit.   A complete review will appear in a future issue.
 
    



 
						