Phillips claims stake in South Asian market with London exhibition

A selling show of South Asian Modernism at Phillips Berkley Square marks the auction house's most significant foray into the region's art market.

Crossing Borders (until 31 July) features the work of 64 artists who shaped Modernist dialogues across the 20th century, including Bhupen Khakhar, Huma Bhabha, Rasheed Araeen and Nilima Sheikh. Across Phillips's two floors of exhibition space, major market hitters such as S.H. Raza and F.N. Souza are hung next to more obscure names like Ahmed Parvez. Prominently placed are two paintings by the Keralan artist Viswanathan, his first commercial outing since his survey show at this year's Sharjah Biennial.

Prices range from £5,000 for works on paper to £1.5m for a 1950s oil by M.F. Husain, whose monumental Gram Yatra (1954) broke the record for Indian painting at auction when it sold at Christie's New York in March, for $13.7m.

Indeed, Phillips's attention on South Asia comes at a time when dozens of 20th-century artists are seeing their art markets turbocharged, amid sustained economic growth and a small private museum boom in India. Greater institutional appetite in the West for Global South artists plays a factor too. Phillips notes in a press release that its show coincides with "an unprecedented institutional focus on South Asian art across London this year, from the Barbican to the Royal Academy, Serpentine Galleries, and Frieze Cork Street".

Until now, Phillips's presence in the South Asian Modern and contemporary art market has been relatively scarce, at least compared to other international auction houses. Sotheby's and Christie's have for more than two decades maintained dedicated departments to serve this category, through which they hold biannual sales in New York. Bonhams, although less active, also has a small South Asian department and occasionally stages live sales. In 2010, Phillips (then Phillips de Pury & Co) included Indian work in its Brics sales, for art from Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, but ceased these auctions after just two years.

Leading Phillips's South Asian drive is Yassaman Ali, the regional director for Middle East and North Africa, whose role has recently expanded to include South Asia. "With demand intensifying—not only for contemporary but also for Modern South Asian work—the time is now to strengthen our strategy and formalise this commitment," Ali says.

Unlike its competitors, Ali continues, Phillips maintains a "distinctly agile approach" by not segregating art into regional-specific sales. "Instead, we position South Asian artists on our global platform alongside their peers, giving them the recognition and visibility they deserve without ‘othering’ them. The Barbican is an institution currently doing just that, showing Giacometti alongside Huma Bhabha, and this reflects how the art world is evolving toward inclusivity.”

Crossing borders or blurring boundaries?

The exhibition at Phillips is organised with Grosvenor Gallery, the UK's leading dealership for South Asian art. Works are jointly consigned by Phillips and Grosvenor, and the costs, including shipping and installing, are to be shared between both organisations—as will the profits.

With auction houses increasingly developing their private sales arms—a dynamic only exacerbated by a down market that dissuades many consignors from selling publicly—the Grosvenor-Phillips collaboration is yet another example of blurring boundaries within a once-siloed field.

"Given that auction houses have long been active in the private sale market, we don’t see this as particularly radical," says Conor Macklin, Grosvenor's founder. "I believe Phillips conducted around $120m in private sales in 2024. Transparency is something we’re both very keen to preserve. As Phillips is looking to enter this sector and is building from the ground up, this collaboration should prove extremely useful."

"Our gallery in St. James’s is modest in size," adds Macklin's business partner, Charles Moore. "For us it’s a chance to mount a major exhibition in a large space, drawing on Phillips's logistics, marketing, and sales teams, while also benefitting from its global reach."

For Phillips's Ali, the collaboration with Grosvenor "amplifies our reach within key regional collector communities. We are looking to expand and strengthen Phillips’ presence in the South Asian market, and this partnership enables us to do exactly that".