Christie’s Presents the Visionary Collection of Mahinder and Sharad Tak

During New York’s annual Asian Art Week in March 2022, Christie’s is honored to present over 40 works from The Visionary Collection of Mahinder and Sharad Tak as part of the live auction, South Asian Modern + Contemporary Art Including Works from the Collection of Mahinder and Sharad Tak on 23 March 2022.

A selection of highlights from the collection will be on view at Christie’s London between 1 to 6 February, followed by private viewings in Mumbai. All lots from the auction will then be exhibited as part of Christie’s Asian Art Week preview in New York from 18 to 22 March.

Nishad Avari, Head of Sale, South Asian Modern + Contemporary Art, Christie’s, remarked: “Over the last fifty years, Mahinder and Sharad Tak have put together one of the most important collections of South Asian modern and contemporary art in North America. Apart from pioneering collectors, they are dedicated patrons of the arts and respected philanthropists. We are honored to be able to offer a selection of works from their storied collection for sale this spring. Highlights include major paintings by Bhupen Khakhar, Manjit Bawa, Arpita Singh and Sayed Haider Raza with impressive exhibition histories, appearing at auction for the first time. Also included are exceptional works by Maqbool Fida Husain, Rameshwar Broota, Jogen Chowdhury and Jagdish Swaminathan, all close friends of the collectors.”

Over the decades, Mahinder and Sharad Tak have been showcasing India’s rich cultural heritage to their community of neighbors and friends in America, linking her past and present and building a strong foundation for the future. On annual trips back to India, Mahinder would visit art galleries, inevitably purchasing one or two pieces for her home. However, it was only a few years later in the early 1980s, when she was introduced to the artist Maqbool Fida Husain on one of his trips to the United States, that this interest grew into a passion and she began to seriously collect Indian art. By making their home one of the first platforms for South Asian art and culture in America, the Taks created a new global audience for it. Consequently, they became instrumental in growing and sustaining an appreciation for South Asian heritage in the country many years before access to other cultures became as widespread and instantaneous as it is today.

The scope and depth of the Tak Collection speaks to the friendships Mahinder and Sharad have built with several artists, and their longstanding investment in their South Asian heritage. Leading highlights from their collection to be offered in March include Bhupen Khakhar’s The Banyan Tree (1994) and Manjit Bawa’s Untitled (Devi) (1993), alongside major paintings by South Asian modernists including Maqbool Fida Husain, who painted a portrait of Mahinder, Sayed Haider Raza, Francis Newton Souza, Jagdish Swaminathan, Jogen Chowdhury, Rameshwar Broota and Arpita Singh.

About Christie’s

Founded in 1766, Christie’s is a world-leading art and luxury business. Renowned and trusted for its expert live and online auctions, as well as its bespoke private sales, Christie’s offers a full portfolio of global services to its clients, including art appraisal, art financing, international real estate and education. Christie’s has a physical presence in 46 countries, throughout the Americas, Europe, Middle East, and Asia Pacific, with flagship international sales hubs in New York, London, Hong Kong, Paris and Geneva. It also is the only international auction house authorized to hold sales in mainland China (Shanghai).

Christie’s auctions span more than 80 art and luxury categories, at price points ranging from $200 to over $100 million. In recent years, Christie’s has achieved the world record price for an artwork at auction (Leonardo da Vinci’s Salvador Mundi, 2017), for a single collection sale (the Collection of Peggy and David Rockefeller, 2018), and for a work by a living artist (Jeff Koons’ Rabbit, 2019).

Christie’s Private Sales offers a seamless service for buying and selling art, jewellery and watches outside of the auction calendar, working exclusively with Christie’s specialists at a client’s individual pace.

Recent innovations at Christie’s include the groundbreaking sale of the first NFT for a digital work of art ever offered at a major auction house (Beeple’s Everydays, March 2021), with the unprecedented acceptance of cryptocurrency as a means of payment. As an industry leader in digital innovation, Christie’s also continues to pioneer new technologies that are redefining the business of art, including the creation of viewing and bidding experiences that integrate augmented reality, global livestreaming, buy-now channels, and hybrid sales formats. 

Christie’s is dedicated to advancing responsible culture throughout its business and communities worldwide, including achieving sustainability through net zero carbon emissions by 2030, and actively using its platform in the art world to amplify under-represented voices and support positive change.