DAG's first auction is scheduled to be held at The Imperial Hotel here on August 21.
"We believe that introducing these senior and respected master artists to buyers at auctions houses is critical for preserving their legacy," said DAG CEO Ashish Anand.
"An auction is a perfect way to let the market evaluate their worth," he added.
The works on feature cover some 100 years. They include works of great quality and rarity, whether the painting from F.N. Souza's "black" period, powerful instances of his Heads series, M.F. Husain's Indian response to the biblical 'three graces' or the abstract canvases in rich, earthy tones by S.H. Raza.
The works range from a refined work on the mother and child theme by master folk modernist Jamini Roy, an abstract composition by Rabindranath Tagore, a landscape by S.G. Thakar Singh, fine works by Jehangir Sabavala, K.G. Subramanyan, Madhvi Parekh, Sunil Das, Himmat Shah and Avinash Chandra -- a strong line-up of significant artists.
"We aim to broaden the scope of the art market. The Indian art market is currently a minuscule part of the international art market with a percentage share that is less than 0.5%. Few artists are known outside India, and even within the country there is very little knowledge about accredited senior artists," DAG Modern President Kishore Singh told IANS.
"With more acknowledged artists becoming part of a recognised inventory of artists, it will be a matter of time before their works become part of museum and gallery retrospectives, or find themselves leveraged in other auctions, taking away the strain of only a few artists being considered auction-friendly," he added.
