Sotheby’s held a “Modern and Contemporary South Asian Art” auction in London, where seven works by five Bangladeshi masters—Zainul Abedin, Shahid Kabir, Mohammad Kibria, Rashid Choudhury, and Kalidas Karmakar—were sold, exceeding pre-sale estimates. A painting by Zainul Abedin fetched £50,800 against an estimate of £15,000–£20,000, while three works by Shahid Kabir sold for £53,340, far above the £7,500–£9,500 estimate. Artists Shahid Kabir and Kalidas Karmakar appeared at a Sotheby’s auction for the first time, and seven new records were set overall, including for Kabir, Karmakar, Francis Newton Souza, Ganesh Pyne, Laxman Shrestha, Laxman Pai, and Adeela Suleman.
This auction matters because it signals growing global recognition and market demand for Bangladeshi modern art, with prices far exceeding expectations and multiple records set. The strong performance of works by lesser-known artists like Shahid Kabir and Kalidas Karmakar, alongside established figures like Zainul Abedin, indicates an expanding collector interest in South Asian art beyond the usual Indian and Pakistani markets. The record-breaking results also underscore Sotheby’s strategic focus on the region, as the auction achieved the highest sales value in the 30-year history of its South Asian Modern and Contemporary Art department.