From rxpgnews.com
Art auction raises Rs.13 mn for Maneka Gandhi's charity
By RxPG News Service,
Nov 25, 2006 - 4:06:01 AM
New Delhi, Nov 24 - Six paintings from the Maneka Gandhi family collection raised a staggering Rs.13 million at an art auction here Friday, with the money going to an NGO the former minister runs for animal welfare.
The paintings were among the 119 works that went under the hammer at the third in art house Osian's 'Historical Series'.
In their totality, the works were a comprehensive collection representing different schools of Indian art. The auction laid special focus on themes like 'Flowers and the Feminine Form', and 'Gandhiji and Art'.
With the auction stretching late into the night, the organisers said they would be able to collate final sales figures on Saturday.
Of the works from the Gandhi collection, Bikash Bhattacharjee's starkly surreal 'In June 19-' alone fetched Rs.4.75 million while an untitled M.F. Husain went for a slightly lower Rs.4.6 million.
The artist had presented this work to then prime minister Indira Gandhi who in turn passed it to her younger son Sanjay on his marriage to Maneka.
Of the other works, Sarada C. Ukil's 'Birth of Buddha' went for Rs.1.2 million, Paritosh Sen's 'Camels' for Rs.800,000, Manjit Bawa's 'Study of Cow' for a similar amount, and another similarly titled work by the same artist for Rs.900,000.
According to Osian chairman Neville Tuli, with the market strong and growing in confidence and discrimination 'we kept the price estimates very low so that the market is clearly seen to be determining the prices of art in a transparent manner.
'Within a very short period of time, many other parts of Indian art will be getting their financial acknowledgement as modern and contemporary art maintains its growing international respect,' he added.
Holding that major publications and the establishment of archives, museums and art schools were envisaged over the next five to seven years, Tuli said: 'This boom needs to be institutionalised and auctions of high quality work are a key part of that infrastructure building process.'
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