THE ART TRUTH

Saturday, 12 March 2016

Feds Recover Stolen Indian Antiquities from auction house Christies

11 March 2016: Two valuable Indian sandstone sculptures dating back to the eighth century were seized by federal agents just days before they were scheduled to be sold at Christie's, a New York auction house, on 15 March 2016 in an auction titled “The Lahiri Collection: Indian and Himalayan Art, Ancient and Modern"

NPR's Hansi Lo Wang reports that together, the statues are valued at almost a half-million dollars."One dates back to eighth-century India and is a rare depiction of a Hindu god and his entourage on horseback. "The other — believed to be made in the tenth century — shows a Hindu teacher flanked by two attendants."Together, they're valued at almost a half-million dollars."

A sandstone stele of Rishabhanata from the 10th century India, believed to have been stolen, was seized by the federal authorities in a raid of Christie’s today as part of an international investigation into a former gallery owner. Department of Homeland Security

Agents of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations say the statues were recovered as part of an ongoing initiative called Operation Hidden Idol, which focuses on "activities surrounding the illicit cultural property trade in New York." Both stolen items came from a smuggler of looted antiquities. According to court documents, investigators found an unlabeled computer disc in a Manhattan storage facility in 2012, with a folder labeled "Shantoo" that contained images of stolen antiquities and names of dealers.

A person was charged in connection with the disc, and after pleading guilty to criminal possession of stolen property and related charges, that person became an informant for the investigation. An affidavit by a federal agent says the informant said "Shantoo" was a nickname for Ranjeet Kanwat, a "known smuggler" from India, and one of the main suppliers of stolen artifacts for Subhash Kapoor, who is currently awaiting extradition to New York in connection with more than $100 million in stolen antiquities.

Ambassador Riva Ganguly Das, consul general of India, praised the recovery of the ancient statues.

"My congratulations to all of the special agents of HSI New York, who have painstakingly and diligently undertaken these complex and time consuming investigations," he said.

Christie's auction house said it had no knowledge that the statues were stolen.

"Christie's devotes considerable resources to investigating the provenance of all objects we offer for sale. Under no circumstance would Christie's knowingly offer a work of art where there are valid concerns over provenance," the auction house said in a statement. "This is one of the difficulties the art market faces in vetting antiquities, which is why Christie's very much values building strong relationships with and between countries of origin, law enforcement, archaeologists, and the collecting community."

Christie's had been planning to auction the statues during Asia Week New York. Now it has removed them from the list of items for sale and is cooperating with investigators.

The stolen lots were to be auctioned at Rockefeller Plaza, New York on 15 March 2016

An ICE spokesperson said the antiquities "will be repatriated to the government of India" though no date has been set for their return.

(Source: Laura Wagner, npr.org, 11 March 2016)

2. Christies withdraws potentially looted dagger from Antiquities Auction - ArtNet News, 10 Dec 2015

Saturday, 19 December 2015

Fakes of Raza & Swaminathan at Christies auction?

Christies on the unsold Raza: 'Yes, it was a disappointment'

17 December 2015: Moments before the Christies team assembled to address the media post their third India auction on Tuesday, Syed Haider Raza's 'Bindu' was taken down. It was replaced by an untitled piece of Vasudev Gaitonde. In the spirit of the evening, Gaitonde had triumphed, Raza disappointed.

William Robinson, international head of world art, Christies said, "The large 'Bindu' did not sell and yes, it was a disappointment. I know there were some stories circulating in the press. But we stand by the painting. However, it may have affected bidding."

Robinson was perhaps alluding to claims made by a Dubai-based art house just days before the auction, that 'Bindu' and an untitled work by Jagdish Swaminathan were fakes. These allegations appear to have worked against 'Bindu'.

Raza's 1983 Bindu, Oil - touted to be fake

J Swaminathan's 1988, untitled - fake or authentic?

As for claims about the works being fake, Christies refuted them, Sonal Singh said, "If you look at Mr. Raza website, he has uploaded a picture. He, himself is authenticating it. We have got it from someone who has bought it directly from the artist."

William Robinson

(Source: Economic Times, 17 December 2015, masoom.gupte@timesgroup.com)

Related Posts:
1. Dubai art house claims paintings at Christies auction fake - Business Standard, 14 Dec, 2015
2. Gaitonde Record & An Unsold Raza at Christie’s Mumbai Sale - Blouinartinfo, 16 Dec 2015
3. Christies's denies 'fake' claim by art house - FPJ, 16 Dec 2015

Thursday, 10 December 2015

Legal notice to auction house Christies

The Mystery of a Missing Gaitonde: CHRISTIE'S IN TROUBLE - TAKEN POSSESSION OF FOR AN NY AUCTION, NO SIGN OF AN OIL-ON-CANVAS FOR FOUR YEARS NOW

Collector and JJ School of Arts graduate files a police complaint; alleges an attempt to usurp the painting worth crores.

10 December 2015: An artist and a JJ School of Arts graduate has filed a police complaint against Christie's for not returning a Gaintonde oil-on-canvas the auction house took possession of in 2011 with a promise to put it up for sale in New York.

The artist, Delhi-based Durga Kainthola, has said in her complaint that she has been demanding the painting back for four years now but all she has got so far from Christie's is evasive answers. At least three legal notices she sent to the auction house too have not elicited any response.

Kainthola, a post-graduate from M S University, Vadodra, last week approached the Economic Offences Wing of the Delhi police and lodged a complaint against Christie's India Private Limited, which has its head office in Mumbai.

The complaint, a copy of which is available with Mumbai Mirror, says that Kainthola and her husband handed over the painting to Christie's in 2011 for sale at an auction in New York. This had followed an approach made by the auction house in 2010 to let it lead the 60 inches-by-40 inches painting's auction abroad. A 'consignment agreement' was signed by the two parties on February 7, 2011.

Kainthola's complaint at EOW filed through her lawyer K C Jha says that she first became suspicious after the auction house did not display the painting in the preview exhibition of the South Asian Modern + Contemporary Art held on March 23, 2011 at New York.

When Kainthola wrote to Christie's demanding to know why the painting was not put out in the preview show despite it having left India on March 4 giving the auction house ample time to display it, there was no response from their end.

Sonal Singh

Kainthola's complaint says the painting did not even get a bid at its reserve price at the auction mainly because it was not there at the preview show when potential buyers size up the artworks on display and decide what they will bid for and how far they will go to bag it.

On the Pundole Art Gallery website, an untitled work of Gaitonde of similar dimensions as that of the painting Kainthola gave to Christie's is estimated to be worth anywhere between Rs 9 crore to Rs 15 crore.

Following the New York fiasco, Kainthola and her husband asked for the painting to be returned to them. At this point, Christie's requested a little more time and promised to conduct a private sale for it. "The vice-president called several times from New York and pleaded that the painting be allowed to be taken to London for a successful sale at the South Asian Modern & Contemporary Art, Lot 70, scheduled for June 9 the same year. And they took the painting to London without my or my husband's consent," Kainthola says in her complaint.

The response at the London auction too was less than encouraging. Disillusioned, the Kaintholas wrote to the auction house that the painting be sent back to their residence in Delhi as soon as possible. It's been more than two years since and Christie's has not only not returned the artwork, but have also failed to give the Kaintholas any convincing reply on its whereabouts. "Their malafide intention is clear that Christie's wants to grab this precious painting," the complaint says.

In August 2015, Kainthola started a legal process against the auction house. Three legal notices since have not been responded to and the only response given to her once has been that the matter has been referred to Christie's legal department.

When Mumbai Mirror contacted Christie's, its India head Sonal Singh in an email reply said: "We understand that this complaint concerns a work of art by Vasudeo S Gaitonde, owned by the complainant and which they consigned for sale at Christie's New York in 2011. Christie's takes all complaints very seriously and will investigate thoroughly before responding any further to external requests."

Christie's are scheduled to have their second auction in India in Mumbai on December 11 where the sale will be led by masterpieces from leading figures of Indian art including Tyeb Mehta, Jehangir Sabavala and Bhupen Khakhar.

Speaking for Kainthola, her lawyer said: "It is rather unfortunate that my clients have had such a sad experience with an international auction house of such repute. We have started the legal process to get the painting back from them. The matter is now sub-judice, hence we will not be able to divulge any more details."

Source: Mumbai Mirror, 10 December 2015

1. Govt may take legal action against Christies | DNA | 29 June 2007
2. Legal notice to Christie's? | Hindustan Times | 30 June 2007

Monday, 28 September 2015

Are Souza’s prices being buoyed?

'Birth' by F N Souza that sold at $4.1 million at Christies

An overdose of Agatha Christie novels coupled with an unabashed admiration for Sherlock Holmes has rendered me incorrigibly inclined towards investigation especially when clues are falling like showers of meteors. It is not shrewish suspiciousness but a serious desire to “get to the bottom of it” usually for my own understanding. It has almost become second nature to add up clues to make the larger picture and being proven correct too often has made me more convinced about its veracity. This twitchy nose for news in years of working in journalism, exploring dimensions of the art world has not gone waste: After all, one can figure out whether the rice is cooked by the proverbial single grain of rice.

The reason of these self-congratulatory musings is the recent spate of developments in the art world that has catapulted Francis Newton Souza to center stage in a far bigger way than ever before. It is not as if the cartels that control art have suddenly awoken to the fact he was part of the Progressive Group or that his lines have suddenly become more expressive. The very same art world that shunned his rather explicit nudes as repulsive and obscene is now running after his works with bushels of bucks to grab those same nudes. And interestingly it is not new collectors who are acquiring them, but senior and older investors who have seen

Souzas floating around for a while. So it makes me wonder if investors have acquired a big cache of his works and want to prop up his prices.

My Sherlock Holmes brain is twitching away for there seems to be an almost orchestrated attempt to buoy up his prices especially in the international arena. Actually it is about time he got his share in the sun, shunned as a pervert for his nudes in his lifetime. I remember in the 90s he had come to meet me in my office with his then muse and companion Shrimati Lal. His cap, smile and intense eyes are vivid in my mind still.

At the recent Christie’s New York auction Souza sold for a mind boggling $ 4.1 million bought by the Delhi-based Kiran Nadar Museum that is an amazing piece where a woman in labour is seen delivering a child with a still life on a window sill and through the window a landscape can be seen.

At the Saffronart auction in New Delhi too, the top lot was Souza’s Man and Woman Laughing (1957) that sold for Rs 16,84,00,000 (US$ 2,590,769) breaking all previous records for the artist at auction. Formerly from the collection of Harold Kovner, Souza’s most important patron, it belongs to a particularly vital period of the artist’s career.

Kovner discovered Souza’s work in 1956 and financially supported the artist to promote his works. The duration of this patronage, which lasted four years, was instrumental in allowing Souza more freedom to paint, and achieve greater creative success than ever before. As a strong modernist Souza’s early work made an impact both in India and abroad. His strong, bold lines delineated the head in a distinctive way where it was virtually re-invented the circles, hatchings and crosses. In later years his forms retained their plasticity but became less inventive.

The other favourites at the auction remained the evergreen stable buys M.F. Husain and Tyeb Mehta. S.H. Raza’s market seems to be looking up too, after a slump.

It is auction time again in Delhi with the Artdeal coming up with its autumn auction ‘Framed Sentiment’. This time the most promising attraction is a ceramic bowl by Pablo Picasso, a medium he began experimenting with in 1946 after visiting the Madoura pottery workshop in Vallauris. There are drawings and paintings by modern masters like F.N. Souza, M.F. Husain, S.H. Raza, Ramkumar, Krishen Khanna. The Souza work is a passionately created canvas that emulates a raw energy with its powerful form, a remarkable work of the artist. The auction also boasts of unusual works by celebrated Bengal Masters like some early works by Jamini Roy and letters by Nandalal Bose.

This time Rajasthani miniatures that are hard to come by will also go under the hammer. These belong to the known schools of miniature art in India such as Nathdwara, Jaipur and Jodhpur, among others. There is one with a beautiful depiction of the battle of Kurukshetra in Jodhpur style; the gold still lustrous despite its age. Another Mewar-style miniature depicting a wedding scene with text describing it is an exemplary artwork of the time.

For me, only those pieces that are important works from the point of the artists’ journey or those that have an artistic/historic importance or are one of a kind deserve to be part of the auction circuit and not just any work of any artist. And auctions cannot be used as watermarks to decide/position prices. Hope investors and buyers are listening.

(Source: The Asian Age, 24 September 2015)

Friday, 22 May 2015

Wrong person hampered progress

The new wing of the Lalit Kala Akademi in Lucknow

It is so easy to blame the government for all the ills that befall us but in the name of autonomy the reins of institutions shouldn’t also be handed over to self-serving, arbitrary and avaricious individuals. The whole point of granting autonomy to those institutions is that they are so significant that they need to work independent of narrow interests. If we choose thieves as chowkidars, who are we to blame?

The case in point is the unending saga of Lalit Kala Akademi. I attempted to update myself on what was happening there and I yet again stumbled on the proverbial can of worms. I am not surprised that the Ministry of Culture had to sit up and take notice but hopefully the wrongs will soon be righted. I am pained about how choosing a wrong person can set an institution back so badly. Let me start at the beginning.

The problems started when they chose a tainted and relatively junior bureaucrat (he retired as joint secretary) like Ashok Vajpayee as chairman of LKA. Except his association with S.H. Raza and writing a few desultory catalogue notes I wonder what the locus was for him being appointed to the august body. During his five-year tenure he allegedly played his predictable favourites to dole out whatever benefits could accrue from the LKA, including giving the galleries gratis to commercial galleries during the Commonwealth Games despite noting on the files to the contrary. This resulted in huge loss to the public exchequer, which by the way is yet to be recovered.

In the last month of his tenure, he even threw out the secretary of the LKA ostensibly for “not holding the triennial” among a few unproven allegations but the actual agenda was that Vajpayee was interested in another term as chairman. The then ministry mandarins scrapped the orders and the Secretary, Dr Sudhakar Sharma was back in harness. In the intermittent period until the appointment of the new chairman, the vice chairman K.R. Subbanna took over and peace reigned. But it was not to be.

It is rumoured that Ashok Vajpayee lobbied and got K.K. Chakravarty the hot seat to put a veil on his own wrongdoings further his “half-finished” work. While Chakravarty managed to wangle prestigious postings at Manav Sangrahalaya, Bhopal, National Museum, Indira Gandhi Center for Arts and Delhi Institute of Heritage Research and Management in Delhi, unfortunately there are many CVC or CBI investigations on him, including financial mismanagement. Incidentally salary paid to him was in violation of the provisions of the constitution of the DIHRM, registered under the Societies Registration Act – as it was an honorary post.

At LKA he carved a room within a room to carry on the work of DIHRM. Reliable sources in the LKA allege that he took away a truck load of files when the government took over. In the absence of secretary, vice chairman, general council and executive board, he not only conducted all the executive functions of the Akademi but was also involved in its day-to-day functioning, which is not the role defined for the LKA chairman.

Even before he joined the LKA, Chakravarty again threw out the secretary. This is really suspicious for I have been following Dr Sharma’s career almost for the last three decades in institutions like National Museum, National Gallery of Modern Art and of course the Lalit Kala Akademi and I am happy to report that his track record is actually unblemished, a fact borne out in subsequent enquiries by his detractors, so much so that they were left with little option but to drop the charges on him in court.

The focus on development of LKA’s infrastructure in Delhi including creating a new wing comprising of a large gallery space, an auditorium, and the administrative wing during Dr Sharma’s tenure was carried out with space carved for storage and putting the library in order.

He went about creating a new wing at the Lucknow regional centre and put in place LKA’s new branch in the historical landmark Gaiety Theatre of Shimla and publication outlets at Kochi and Srimanta Sankaradeva Kalakshetra in Guwahati with almost missionary zeal!

His efforts paid off literally and metaphorically as revenue earnings shot up from the initial Rs 10 lakh to Rs 1 crore per annum.

But this poor officer was forced to take legal recourse and even after abatement of the charge sheet and winning the case in court is still in the process of getting reinstated and join office, for even despite ministerial orders Chakravarty went ahead and ridiculed the quasi-judicial order by stalling its implementation and also made a mockery of the Central Administrative Tribunal and law of the land for this is contempt of court. Hopefully inquires will be initiated against Vajpayee and Chakravarty under government rule and Dr Sharma’s harassment at the hands of the former chairmen will come to an end and justice will not be delayed – remember the old adage?

Recently I happened to re-read the wonderful lines by Winston Churchill when asked to cut arts funding in favour of the war effort, he simply replied: “Then what are we fighting for?” My point exactly.

(Source: The Asian Age, 21 May 2015)

Thursday, 7 May 2015

At Lalit Kala Akademi, paintings lose out to the art of the possible

When a painting by the internationally renowned Ram Kumar went missing from the Lalit Kala Akademi and was replaced with a fake in 2003, the art fraternity was shocked. As more paintings have gone missing down the years since, successive governments seem to have been least bothered.

With the Modi government taking over the affairs of the akademi, the case of the missing paintings appears all but forgotten. A Comptroller and Auditor-General report of 2011-2013 said 14 works of art were missing from the Akademi. “Out of this, nine art works had been missing since 1984, but the Akademi did not take any initiative to trace out the same or fix responsibility,” the report said.

The Akademi had not maintained any record of movement of the permanent collection prior to August 2013, it said. In 2010-11, when the Akademi transferred some 400 art works to a regional centre, 17 were damaged because they were not handled by a professional agency. The report said the missing paintings were not written off the record even if they were untraceable. No FIR appears to have been lodged or any enquiry committee formed.

Panel’s findings

Nearly 10 years ago, a four-member expert committee was formed to review and authenticate the art works. The committee reported missing Landscape by Ram Kumar, Tandava by J. Swaminathan, Peace by K.K. Hebbar, Monkey God by M.F. Husain, Indian Traditional Girl by I. Jayachandran and two paintings by Somnath Hore.

The committee authenticated 2,000 works, but seriously questioned the authenticity of 12. The panel could not verify if these were genuine. The work stopped suddenly and resumed in 2007. The paintings continue to be listed as missing.

The case of the missing paintings forms the essence of a letter written by Ramakrishna Vedala, secretary in charge of the Akademi, in 2013 to the Central Bureau of Investigation. But nothing much happened after that.

Artists question wisdom of removing Akademi chairperson

Even as the Lalit Kala Akademi finds itself in the news for reasons other than art, there is a fear that priceless paintings missing from it might have found their way into private galleries.

What is now grabbing headlines is the government’s sudden takeover of the autonomous Akademi and a group of artists contesting the move in the Delhi High Court. The court had issued notice to the Union government asking why the takeover should not be quashed and a CBI inquiry initiated into the affairs of the Akademi. It is hoped that the court will look into the case of the missing paintings that find a mention in the papers submitted for its scrutiny.

The artists have questioned the government’s wisdom of removing Kalyan Kumar Chakravarty as Akademi Chairperson. Sources say he has taken several steps to clean up the Akademi and rid it of politics. “He was actually in the process of setting the place in order and his removal comes as a shock,” an Akademi member said. Mr. Chakravarty’s tenure should have lasted till 2017.

Sources blame a former secretary for mismanagement of the Akademi’s affairs, a charge he denies. While the government has cited financial and administrative irregularities as reasons for the takeover, no one, it appears, has paid any attention to the paintings that have gone missing for long.

(Source: The Hindu, 2 May 2015)

Thursday, 30 April 2015

The 5 biggest unresolved Indian art scams of the decade

Image Courtesy: Economic Times Newspaper

2006: Christies & their partner Vadehra Art Gallery offer fake works at auction

On 30th March 2006, Christies, in consultation with its Indian partner Vadehra Art Gallery of Delhi, withdrew as many as six lots from its SALE 1762 of Modern & Contemporary Indian Art in New York. No explanation whatsoever is available in the public domain explaining why those lots had been published in the catalogue in the first place, thus establishing that an auction house just by virtue of being one of the oldest or largest ones is not necessarily the most reliable ones when it comes to distinguishing between counterfeits and original works.

As per a report in the Hindustan Times the works, that included two watercolours by MF Husain, three works by FN Souza and a tempera by Ganesh Pyne, also had dubious provenance.

In the past also Christies have been caught in similar controversies –

1998 - two of Ajoy Ghose's award winning Chaitanya paintings were listed in Christies catalogue as Nandalal Bose's. Ghose's signature had been replaced with a scrawl that read Nando. Their sale, at Rs 3.64 lakh each, was revoked later.
Source: Hall of fakes – India Today, 21 Feb 2000

2001 - a Manjit Bawa was withdrawn from the Christies auction after the artist informed the auction house that he had nothing to do with the painting and that his signature appearing at the right-hand bottom corner was forged.
Source:
1. Mystery of the fake Bawa – Tribune, 14 Jan 2001
2. Two Coats of Paint: Welcome to the dark world of art fakes – Indian Express, 6 July 2014

2009: Saffronart and Osians under Income Tax Dept scanner

Rigging Auctions?

An investigation into the business practices of Osians and Saffronart had revealed several irregularities in their account books, including a possible attempt to rig the price of artworks and dupe investors, according to an income-tax (I-T) department official involved in the probe.
Saffronart was also charged for carrying out numerous cash transactions.
While Neville Tuli and the already beleaguered auction house Osians have been declared defaulters as recently as 11th March 2015 by IDBI bank, it would be in the interest of the art collectors if Saffronart can throw light on what was the final outcome of these investigations.

Inspite these investigations Saffronart continues to offer works at such low prices as evident from its upcoming auction of Modern & Contemporary Art on 12-13 May 2015 wherein a work by S H Raza (lot 21, titled ATMARAS) estimated at Rs 80 Lakhs - Rs 1 crore is available for an unseemly low starting bid of Rs 1,550 – Are there actually such gullible sellers who would be willing to even consider giving away such works at such prices or is it not a a way of misleading prospective bidders? Therefore, it is not a surprise that the IT department accused Saffronart of rigging the price of artworks during its raid in 2009.