'Souza's lawyers were the only ones who made money from his estate'

Saffronart founder Dinesh Vazirani has some pertinent points on preserving the legacy of artists through their estates

"To me, artist estates are double-edged swords. A dangerous aspect is that they [the estate managers] somehow become de facto arbitrators of authenticity. That’s risky because someone’s son or daughter is not always an expert of the artist’s works.

"Given the number of fakes in the art market, these estates must have a sense of responsibility as opposed to becoming experts. That distinction is very important especially in context of the Indian art market.

"One classic example is of artist FN Souza. In the end, the only people who made money from his estate were the lawyers. They [the managers] started behaving like they were experts of Souza’s work, which they weren't. And there were lawsuits flying all over the place. They paid more money to lawyers than they themselves got from the estate."