Contemporary, modern Bengal art to feature at Sept auction

KOLKATA: Another art auction house has arrived on the Indian scene. Frontline art outfit Apparao Galleries, which staged its opening auction a few months back, is unfurling a second sale in the first week of September. This is the first time that an auction is being dedicated exclusively to Bengal art. As things stand, the gallery has decided to combine both the online and onground models to auction the artworks.

“We are featuring 90 lots in the sale. The paintings range from modern to contemporary Bengal art. There are also some Dutch Bengal works and portraits from the 19th century. Bengal was picked as a theme because it has a fantastic history. But, despite this and its tremendous potential, the paintings are generally undervalued and have not got adequate acknowledgement,” Sharan Apparao, director, Apparao Galleries, said.

She said that the first auction was a mixed bag of paintings and had grossed around Rs 3.5 crore. Dwelling on the dual format approach of an online and onground auctioneering, Ms Apparao said that the attempt was to do something different from other auctions. “It’s a difficult thing and there’s a good deal of technicalities involved. We are working on evolving the right model as the auctions unfold,” she said.

As far as the onground section of the auction goes, bids can be placed physically at the four different stations in Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata and Chennai. However, only registered bidders will be allowed to participate in the auctions. “We want it to be a no-nonsense affair,” Ms Apparao said.

Against the backdrop of the problem of fakes in Bengal, the gallery has taken care to rope in three art professionals to vet the works before they were selected to be auctioned. In fact, to create a parallel platform, Ms Apparao is unveiling authentication workshops at the preview shows of the auctions. Individual collectors can drop by at these programmes and get their works certified by experts.

On the estimates front, Apparao Galleries is fielding a Bikash Bhattacharjee which is valued at Rs 80 lakh, while two Shakti Burmans are pegged at Rs 30-35 lakh. At the same time, Jogen Chowdhury is estimated at Rs 25-28 lakh, KG Subramanyam Rs 34-35 lakh, Ganesh Haloi Rs 16-18 lakh, Rabin Mandal Rs 7-8 lakh, Lalu Prasad Shaw Rs 7-10 lakh, a small Ganesh Pyne mixed media on paper work Rs 7-8 lakh and Abanindranath Tagore Rs 6-7 lakh.

Paritosh Sen’s drawings sport an estimate of Rs 1.5-1.75 lakh, with his paintings going at Rs 2-7 lakh. “Our estimates are definitely on the conservative side,” Ms Apparao observed.

She said venturing into auctions was a logical extension of the gallery. “There are few players in this sphere and one should always look for opportunities. I have been in this field for 22 years and learnt the nitty gritty of the gallery business including sourcing works. Of course, we’ll take a little time to settle down in the auction circuit.”