Who decides the price of a work of art?
The auction house. Do you go to people or do they come to you? They come to us with a work they want us to sell. Therein ends their role. The rest is my decision. If a seller says he bought the work for Rs 10 lakh and wants at least Rs 11 lakh and I don’t think it’s a fair price then I don’t take it. Today, many people are getting greedy. Let the market decide now. Today, even if I estimate a Gaitonde at one rupee it will find its value. What elements go into deciding the value of a work of art? There is just one element — history. About 30 parameters make up historical significance: the artist’s originality, how his unique creation influenced the art world, how he was viewed by his peers, how many critics wrote of his work, the shows he was part of, whether his unique quality was recognised at the time or later, what kind of collectors bought his work, among others. (If Ebrahim Alkazi saw some work it means much more than some Johnny on the street seeing it.) The most important thing
