The contemporary Indian art world oscillates between two kinds of controversies — nudity/obscenity, as claimed by a section of the right wing, and fakes. This time it is the turn of the latter.
Gallerists, art historians, artists and experts are up in arms against the problem of fakes.
The trigger for this is an art auction by a Bangalore-based auction house which reportedly had several fake paintings of some legendary Indian artists. The auction took place on Friday in Delhi.
Enraged at the number of dubious works — as claimed by several people — that emerged in this auction, a few have joined hands to lobby with the government for the creation of a regulatory body to deal with the issue of fake paintings.
“The recent development with regard to the authenticity of works by masters at a forthcoming auction has sent alarm bells ringing once again. How do we regulate this? Especially when experts have given their opinion, which is negative, in regard to a very large body of works. We hope people will support our cause and the framing of an art council will attend to all such matters with due urgency,” says Ashish, who is leading the campaign along with Sonia Ballaney of Vadehra Art Gallery, Tushar Sethi of Asta Guru Auction, Rajni Prasanna, daughter of K.K. Hebbar, and Samarendranath Mazumdar, grand nephew of Hemendranath Mazumdar.
The works reportedly under the scanner are a pen and ink on paper, ‘Nritya’ (three dancing figures) by Rabindranath Tagore (1933), a woman sitting under a tree (wash and tempera) by Nandalal Bose, works by Hemendranath Mazumdar, K.K. Hebbar, K.H. Ara and Bikash Bhattacherjee.
“We are using this platform to start a discussion to frame a document that can be submitted to the Ministry of Culture in the Union Government,” adds Ashish.
Kolkata-based auctioneer and gallerist Vikram Bachhawat who has been leading a battle against fakes for the last two years is also of the view that something concrete has to happen in this regard. His creation is the Facebook page ‘Talk Art’ which undertakes different kinds of discussions regarding art, including fakes. And for one of the posts, Vikram has been sent a legal notice by the auction house.“We have been fighting this battle for long. In 2010 and 2012 also, we got auctions cancelled in Kolkata after we found some fakes to be part of it. I think the regulatory body will have to build a huge archive. They will need to have a collection of publications and catalogues. Registration of works would have to be made mandatory. It is interesting that something is happening but I would join it if I think it is viable,” says Vikram, adding that he will continue to raise his voice despite the legal notice.
Dinesh Wazirani of Saffronart, who is part of the campaign, opines that the foremost step is getting together. “We need to form an association first which would need to discuss not just fakes but everything.”
Among those who urgently feel the need for a regulatory body ensuring a legal framework to tackle the crime is Professor R. Sivakumar, a Tagore expert.
“While it is not possible for the body to look at each and every work, the doubtful works can be taken up by it and for that it will have to keep in touch with experts on various artists. They will have to create trained professionals to deal with this kind of crime.” Like Dinesh and Vikram, Sonia Ballaney of Vadehra Art Gallery also stresses the need for an association. “We had one but there is nothing right now. As for the regulatory body, everyone in the art world has been feeling its need for a long time. We have been discussing it since the ’90s because whose word on a fake painting is to be considered the final one?”
