Mumbai : It was a night where
brushstrokes met film reels, where fine art stood shoulder to shoulder with
popular culture’s most iconic images. The aABC Auction by deRivaz & Ives
closed with an impressive ₹3.31 crore ($384,855 / £285,325) in sales, reminding
the world that India’s popular cultural memory is as valuable as its artistic
masterpieces. Of the 148 lots on offer, 97 found buyers (66%), but the story
was bigger than numbers. It was about nostalgia, heritage, and the rare thrill
of holding history in one’s hands.
The evening’s crown jewel was Ganesh Pyne’s
haunting “Portrait of Rabindranath Tagore” (Lot 47). Hammering down at ₹55.2
lakh, it was more than a sale — it was the poet’s visage carried into new
custodianship through Pyne’s meditative strokes. Pyne was joined on the
leaderboard by M.F. Husain (Lot 57) at ₹29.9 lakh and F.N. Souza’s Untitled
Landscape (Lot 49) at ₹25.3 lakh, both underscoring how India’s modern masters
continue to command reverence.
The very rare antiquarian and controversial
autobiographical book on Robert Clive of Plassey sold for 437,000 along with
all fine art books on Rabindranath Tagore, F.N. Souza, M.F. Husain, Nicholas
Roerich selling very well, revealing that knowledge is the foundational roots
and is still being respected as India’s cultural industry grows.
But if Pyne and Tagore gave the auction
gravitas, Ramesh Sippy’s 1975 blockbuster Sholay gave it electricity. Nearly
half a century after its release, the film’s imagery still ignites bidders’ imaginations.
An original poster and song-synopsis booklet (Lot 134) soared to ₹1.61 lakh,
while a rare six-sheet poster (Lot 135) followed at ₹74,750, proof that Gabbar,
Jai, and Veeru live on not just in memory, but in collectors’ vaults. Together,
these sales confirmed what cinephiles always knew: Sholay is not just a film,
it is India’s eternal pop-cultural heartbeat.
Beyond art and cinema, the auction unearthed
slices of history. Quit Goa Movement posters (Lot 16), charged with the fire of
independence, achieved ₹1.38 lakh — more than double their upper estimate. Air
India’s poster suite (Lot 35) brought in ₹3.22 lakh, evoking an era when travel
was dreamt in colours and slogans. From Lux Soap’s glamorous divas to Mahatma
Gandhi on tin advertisements, the lots told stories that textbooks often
forget.
The auction was not just a sale; it was a
constellation where Pyne’s Tagore, Husain’s canvases, Souza’s landscapes, and
Sippy’s Sholay coexisted. Together, they stitched a narrative where art,
cinema, popular culture and rare books, and collective memory shimmered in the
same frame. For collectors and dreamers alike, deRivaz & Ives once again
proved that India’s cultural treasures — whether painted on canvas, printed on
a poster, or whispered through celluloid — are priceless.
For complete details, check https://www.derivaz-ives.com/home/auctions/auction-result/the-aabc-auction-vintage-advertisements-fine-arts-rare-books-catalogues-cinema-publicity-material.
