Latest news with #PundoleArtGallery
Indian Express
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Indian Express
Seized, in bank vaults for years, 25 rare Husain works to be auctioned
Dadiba Pundole of the Mumbai-based Pundole Art Gallery vividly recalls the winter of 2003, when artist M F Husain spent weeks at their space, immersed in creating what he described as a series that would capture the essence of the 20th century as he had experienced it. 'He was extremely excited and charged. It sounded ambitious and I wondered how he would paint an entire century, but at that stage, I had no indication of the extent of this project,' says Pundole. He recalls the artist spreading two rolls of canvas on two large walls at the gallery and getting to work with acrylic paints, water, brushes, cotton rags and charcoal. Over two decades on, the works are among the 25 Husain canvases that have been taken out of the vaults of a private bank in Mumbai, where they were kept as part of the proceeds of an alleged loan default case, and will be auctioned. The June 12 auction, titled 'MF Husain: An Artist's Vision of the XX Century', will be held by Pundole's auction house at their space in Hamilton House in Mumbai. It will be the first time since Husain painted them — initially at Pundole's gallery and later at a friend's apartment in Dubai — that the artworks will be shown in India. The 25 paintings are part of a series of 100 that the artist had planned under the acronym 'OPCE' (Our Planet Called Earth). The sale comes months after Husain's Untitled (Gram Yatra) fetched $13.8 million (approximately Rs 118 crore) at a Christie's auction in New York, setting a new record for the most expensive Indian artwork to be sold in an auction. A deal and a court case In 2004, Husain sold the 25 works to Swarup Srivastava, a Mumbai-based art collector and chairman of the Swarup Group of Industries. The transaction marked the first instalment of a larger agreement in which Srivastava was to acquire 100 paintings worth Rs 100 crore from the artist. But two years later, in 2006, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) launched a probe against Srivastava (and others connected to the Swarup Group) for taking a Rs 235-crore loan from the National Agricultural Co-operative Marketing Federation (NAFED), ostensibly to import iron ore, and then allegedly diverting around Rs 150 crore to invest in real estate and other personal expenses. As the legal proceedings progressed, a tribunal in December 2008 allowed NAFED to secure movable and immovable assets of Swarup Group worth Rs 104.25 crore, including the 25 Husain paintings. Over the years, while a part of the loan was repaid, according to sources at NAFED, the outstanding default, with interest, stands at over Rs 500 crore at present. As the arbitration case reached the Bombay High Court, it asked Pundole's gallery to create a valuation report of the artworks. The case proceedings show that on May 2, 2024, Dadiba Pundole submitted a report valuing the 25 paintings at Rs 25 crore. In February this year, the court ordered an auction of the 25 works, to be conducted by Pundole. On May 17, the Swarup Group offered to buy back the paintings at Rs 25 crore, but the court found merit in NAFED's submission that the sale of the paintings by public auction would fetch the highest price, and said Srivastava could participate in the auction. When contacted, Deepak Agarwal, Managing Director of NAFED, told The Indian Express: 'We would rather have the defaulters come and settle their dues with us. The board had passed an OTS (one-time settlement) policy earlier, and they can approach us under that.' The Indian Express reached out to Srivastava, but he refused to comment saying the matter was still sub-judice. The little-known Husains In the run-up to the auction, the paintings, so far seen only by a select few, have been taken out of the bank's vaults and will be displayed as part of a preview from June 8 to 11 at Hamilton House. Soon after their completion in 2004, the paintings were briefly exhibited — first at the Burj Al Arab in Dubai, and later at the Pierre Cardin Centre in Paris — before being sold to Srivastava. The auction catalogue gives a hint of the brush strokes that Husain attempted through these paintings. Cultural theorist and curator Ranjit Hoskote is quoted in the catalogue as saying, 'In these paintings, Husain invokes World War I and World War II, extols the triumphs of aviation, presents nature as the counterpoint to settlement, sings a paean to the race for space, delights in the cinema, and dwells on many memorable leitmotifs of the 20th century, arguably the most globalised and densely event-packed phase in our planet's recorded history. Conceptually, the OPCE series is strongly aligned with Husain's impulse, in his late years, to produce anthological series.' The varied subjects include Husain's trademark horses, paintings featuring American actor Humphrey Bogart, actor-filmmaker Charlie Chaplin, legendary mime artist Marcel Marceau, and a portrait of Mahatma Gandhi. 'It's always exciting when largely unseen works by Husain surface in the market,' says R N Singh, founder of the Dubai-based Progressive Art Gallery who has seen prints of some of these works. 'They represent a phase in which Husain was experimenting with different ideas,' he adds. Husain, who went into self-imposed exile in Doha in 2006, died in London in June 2011. He never completed the 100 paintings he set out to do. 'Had we seen all 100, we would have had a better idea of what he thought of that century, but they were never made. I think the project stopped here,' says Pundole. –With inputs from Omkar Gokhale, Mumbai
Indian Express
14-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Indian Express
Jim Sarbh says grandfather faced losses in business, father didn't make money till ‘very late in life': ‘We lived in a flat given by the Parsi Panchayat'
Jim Sarbh, who has often played rich guy roles in most of his projects including Made in Heaven and Rocket Boys, recently shared his childhood when his grandfather owned an art gallery that didn't do well. The actor also shared that his father started to make money very late in his life before which they lived in a flat given to them by Parsi Panchayat. 'My dad was not in a high economic bracket at all', said the actor. In a recent conversation with Mashable India, Jim Sarbh recalled the times when he lived in this beautiful building in Malabar Hill, but clarified that they were not in a financial condition to afford it. 'A couple years I lived in a building in South Bombay, Malabar Hill.' Explaining how he could afford to live in the most affluent residential areas in Mumbai, Jim shared, 'My dad made money mid-way through his life. He left (Parsi flat) very young because he wanted to make a name for himself. He wanted to make some money. He wanted that kind of success. He left to join the merchant navy. He started his journey as a cadet on ship and eventually became the captain of the ship. He made money very late in his life. Even when we lived in this building (in Malabar Hill), we lived in this building not because we could afford a flat but because it was a company flat.' ALSO READ | 'Jhootha aadmi': Anurag Kashyap claps back at Vivek Agnihotri for saying his alcoholism disrupted Dhan Dhana Dhan Goal shoot Jim recalled his grandfather owning an art gallery, but shared it didn't earn them enough money. 'He did have an art gallery. But modern Indian art didn't make money until recently.' After losses, the family turned the art gallery into an auction house. 'It used to be Pundole Art Gallery, now it is Pundole's Auction House. My uncle runs it. And today, it very successful.' Late in his life, Jim Sarbh's dad bought this beautiful Spanish Villa in Maharashtra's Dahanu from their family friend. The villa features wide arches, open spaces and courtyard surrounded by a large garden. A grand staircase leads to an outdoor swimming pool on the first floor with fantastic views of the sea. The house, now owned by Jim, is decorated with cabinets and ornaments that are full of character. The actor, who made his Bollywood debut with the 2016 film Neerja, appeared in several plays including The Show, The Breakup, Tennis in Nablus, and Ice Glen before that.
