The Father of Modern Indian Art, Raja Ravi Varma’s famous works were auctioned off on RtistiQ, a Singapore-based online art marketplace, as NFT from February 17th to 20th. The auction was held in collaboration with Bengaluru’s Gallery G and the Raja Ravi Varma Heritage Foundation.
In Brief:
- The auction was presented by RtistiQ in collaboration with Gallery G and the Raja Ravi Varma Heritage Foundation.
- Several of Raja Ravi Varma’s Paintings & lithographs were available to bid on, the Goddess Laxmi lithograph bidding the highest.
RtistiQ presented digital NFT versions of two of the most prominent Raja Ravi Varma paintings, bringing Indian art history into the metaverse. The auction drew a thousand people from India, the United Arab Emirates, Singapore, and the United States.
The NFT versions of the National Treasures ‘The Coquette’ [priced at $74,999] and ‘The Reclining Nair Lady’ [priced at $63,999] were available during the four-day auction.
“These are unique edition NFTs which hold potential to be valued even beyond the originals given their uniqueness, tradability, and accessibility. However, our interest has been to extend the artistic legacy of the great painter as the industry takes a paradigm shift,” Vinita Angelo, COO and co-founder of RistiQ.
Five lithographs from the artist’s Gods and Goddesses series were also included in the NFT drops. The Goddess Lakshmi lithograph, in particular, fetched the highest bid of $2,150 (approx Rs 1.6 lakh). This is more than twice the reserve price after a bidding war that resulted in a bid extension.
Meanwhile, lithographs of Saraswati and Yashoda sold for $1700. The lithographs of Hindu greats Lords Shankar and Vishnu, on the other hand, sold for $1,400 and $1,350, respectively.
In an era when a single piece of modern art was very expensive, Raja Ravi Varma transformed the industry by creating lithograph versions of his paintings, making art more accessible to all and satisfying admirers’ demands.
The NFT auction, like Raja Ravi Varma’s legacy, would be open to the public on a global scale aiming to make Raja Ravi Varma’s art available to collectors and investors worldwide. The auction payments were facilitated through credit cards and crypto.
Jothi Menon, CEO, and co-founder of RtistiQ said, “This NFT auction is the next step in the journey of his works as his iconic works. It also allowed everyone else the opportunity to own a piece of India’s beautiful artistic legacy.”
NFTs saw a massive increase in popularity in 2021, and while India is not yet at the forefront, the trend is gaining traction by the day. India saw its first fully curated NFT marketplace, Jupiter Meta, just recently, aimed at bringing unique metaverse experiences to life through film, music, and games.
