Bengal’s artists may soon find no auction house for their artwork. With a latest controversy surrounding an allegation of a “fake” painting, said to be that of famous Bengali painter Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya, being displayed at an auction of renowned auction house Osian in New Delhi, one of the few auction houses that still takes Bengal art may soon stop doing so.
The allegation was from Sanjay Bhattacharya, another painter from Bengal, who charged Mr Neville Tuli, founder chairman of Osian, of displaying a “fake” painting at an Osian auction held on 1 March at a hotel in New Delhi. Speaking on the phone from Delhi, Sanjay Bhattacharya said: “I had gone for the auction of paintings by Osian Auction House on 1 March. I did not have the catalogue with me. A painting the auctioneer called Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya’s painting was shown to the buyers. When I was sure the painting was fake, I asked that the auction be stopped. Soon after, Mr Neville Tuli told me to get out from the auction house,” said Bhattacharya. He added that Bikash Bhattacharya had agreed that the painting was a “fake”.
Mr Neville Tuli, said he might rethink taking art from Bengal. “Most of the auction houses, refuse to take any work from Bengal, because they say you don’t know which one will be fake. We continue to take Bengal art because we think it is unfair to leave out a region like that. As for Sanjay’s allegation, he has an axe to grind, otherwise he wouldn’t have declared the painting to be ‘fake’ during the conduct of the auction. The catalogue on which the painting was depicted had been in circulation long before the auction took place, in all media houses and with Bikash Ranjan weeks before. How is it that nobody spotted it ? The painting was withdrawn as soon as Sanjay made his allegation. But if there are such machinations, the alternative is to stop taking Bengal art, ” he said.

Posted: 03|13|06 at 8:47 am. Filed under: Auction News.