Court-ordered auction of 21 Husain works fetches ₹68.5 crore
The auction, conducted under heavy police presence, fetched a total of ₹68.5 crore, not including Buyer's premium and GST. The highest-selling works included a triptych that sold for ₹9.5 crore, and the Gandhi-figure canvas that fetched ₹8.5 crore, both of which were acquired by the same person, who was present in the room. The auction also saw sales made via online bids and by telephone callers.
Police personnel in plain clothes and uniform discreetly paced the premises of auctioneer Pundole's during the sale, and installed barricades outside its South Mumbai office, after a right wing group demanded a 'ban' on the auction and warned of 'strong public protest' if their demands were not met. The protest, however, was called off, and the auction proceeded smoothly on Thursday.
Earlier this year, the Bombay high court (HC) ordered the auction and directed the Bombay Sheriff to oversee the sale on the instance of the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Ltd. (NAFED). The federation secured these works in 2008 as part of a case involving an unpaid loan of ₹236 crore by industrialist Guru Swarup Srivastava's Swarup Group of Industries. Srivastava had bought these paintings from Husain for an eyebrow-raising sum of ₹25 crore in 2004. The news made a splash at the time, as Srivastava valued each canvas at ₹1 crore, far higher than what any canvas of Husain cost at the time.
The collection titled Our Plant Called Earth or OPCE, depicted Husain's documentation of the 20th century through icons, symbolic figures and significant political events. Made using acrylic on long stretches of canvas that Husain later cut to individual works, they offer an important insight into the varied inspirations that shaped his global, cosmopolitan and culturally secular outlook. Husain also announced his plans to make a total of 100 such works, but abandoned the project eventually.
The artist soon became the object of ire of right wing groups who protested against his depiction of Hindu gods and goddesses. He eventually left India and died in 2011 in self-exile.
Last week, the Hindu Janajagruti Samiti, which has protested against Husain's works before as well, submitted a memorandum to the office of the Maharashtra CM, Mumbai Police Commissioner and the District Collector, demanding a ban on the auction, and warned of a 'strong public protest' if their demands weren't met. 'The sale exceeded expectations,' said Dadiba Pundole, and added that the works were an important part of India's cultural history. The money will be deposited with the Mumbai Sheriff, who will then entrust the money to the HC, a court-appointed official, said.
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