Bonhams, the international fine art auction house established in the UK since 1793, will hold its first Middle East auction sale in Dubai this March.

The auction will feature some of the best works from the biggest names in modern and contemporary Arab, Iranian, Indian and Pakistani art.

The list includes India’s Francis Newton Souza, Syria’s Louay Kayyali and Iran’s Nasser Ovissi. Fine jewellery and watches will also be included in the sale, said a Bonhams official.

“We have a well-established reputation in sales of Indian and Pakistani art in London, where we recently achieved a world-record of £602,400 for the auction of an historic Raj painting by Raja Ravi Varma,” said Claire Penhallurick, Bonhams’ Director of Islamic and Indian Art.

“We expect an overwhelming response from our first auction in the region. It is early days for the local art scene and difficult to predict the potential of the market, however the opportunity for development is vast,” he noted.

Founder of India’s Progressive Artists’ movement in 1947, Francis Newton Souza is internationally-renowned as an articulate genius, augmenting his disturbing and powerful canvases with his sharp, stylish and provocative prose.

His 1955 work ‘The Elder’ - with an estimated value of $240,000-300,000 - will be a highlight of the Bonhams Dubai auction, which will run at the Royal Mirage Hotel from March 2-4 2008.

”Souza's paintings express defiance and impatience with convention and with the banality of everyday life, and reflect the influence of various schools of art - the folk art of his native Goa, the full-blooded paintings of the Renaissance and the path-breaking paintings of the moderns,” explained Penhallurick.

In the 1950s Souza shot to fame with his one-man show at London’s Gallery One and in 1967 he migrated to New York where he received the Guggenheim International Award.

Souza’s works have been exhibited all over the world including the Tate Gallery, London and New Delhi’s National Gallery of Modern Art.

Respected Syrian artist, Louay Kayyali will be represented in the auction with a 93 x 73.5cm oil on canvas ‘The Lottery Boy’ or ‘Seller of Yanaseeb’ with an estimated value $50,000 – 70,000.

‘The Dream,’ with an estimated value of $25,000 – 35,000, by award-winning Iranian artist Nasser Ovissi will be another auction highlight. 

Bonhams’ says the auction comes as the Middle East’s arts scene begins to evolve with increasing interest in long-term investment in artistic assets.

“We’ve noticed a worldwide trend in emerging markets with booming economies, with first-time collectors wishing to purchase contemporary art from their own indigenous regions,” continued Penhallurick.

“We wouldn’t be surprised if this becomes a rising trend here in the UAE with local buyers’ interest in contemporary Islamic and modern Arab art becoming a key growth market.”

“The UAE is definitely destined to become one of the world’s leading art markets, which is why we’re here. We’ve studied the market intensely before entering the region, and believe we’ll have something special to add in the arena of contemporary Islamic and modern Arab art,” said Matthew Girling, Bonhams’ European & Middle East Chief Executive.-TradeArabia News Service