A 1989 painting by Bangladeshi modernist S.M. Sultan, titled *Untitled (Cultivation)*, sold for $50,800 at Christie’s New York on Wednesday, more than doubling its high estimate of $25,000 and setting a new auction record for the artist. The work was acquired by a South Asian institution. Sultan, who died in 1994, is known for his depictions of muscular peasants and has only 14 recorded auction results, with his previous record of $19,500 set just two months earlier at Sotheby’s.
This sale signals the red-hot expansion of the South Asian modern art market beyond established Indian stars like M.F. Husain and Tyeb Mehta, as collectors from Bangladesh and its global diaspora increasingly drive demand for Bangladeshi modernists. Sultan’s rapid price escalation—doubling in under three months—underscores a broader trend of rediscovery and rising values for underrepresented regional artists, though his prices remain far below those of his Western contemporaries like Dalí and Picasso.