Tagore's rare paintings sold for 1.6 million pounds in UK

H S Rao
London, Jun 15 (PTI) Despite protests in India, a set
of 12 rare paintings by Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore was
Tuesday sold off for a whopping 1.6 million pounds at an
auction house here.
The art works of Tagore massively exceeded the
pre-sale combined estimate of 250,000 pounds at the Sotheby's
auction.
The collection was described by Sotheby's auctioneers
as "arguably the most important group of works by Tagore ever
to appear at an auction".
Sotheby's declined to reveal the identity of the
buyers of Tuesday's 12 paintings, describing them as
anonymous.
A Sotheby's spokeswoman said all the pictures sold
well above the asking price.
One of the art works, untitled Portrait of a Woman,
painted in dark tones by Tagore in 1938, fetched 313,250
pounds as against the pre-sale price of 30,000-40,000 pounds.
Another untitled 'Portrait of a Woman' in watercolour,
gouache, coloured ink and pastel on paper also done in 1938
went for 223,250 pounds as against a pre-sale estimated price
of 25,000-30,000 pounds.
The news of the auction last month had led some art
lovers and politicians in India to seek intervention by the
Indian government. They said the paintings were national
heritage and should be brought back to the country.
Eastern Indian state West Bengal Chief Minister
Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee wrote a letter to Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh, asking him to take steps to bring the
paintings back home.
Culture Ministry officials in New Delhi were
tight-lipped over what role the Indian government would assume
at the auction, but some officials made it clear that the
government cannot officially bid for the paintings.
The paintings were sold by the Dartington Hall Trust
charity and the Trust is expected to get a good chunk of
funding for their arts education programmes from the sale of
the paintings.
The charity - set up to advance innovative ideas and
programmes in education, social reform and rural regeneration
in the 1920s - has strong ties to Tagore.
The estate in the south-west English county of Devon
was purchased by Leonard Elmhirst, a close friend of Tagore.
Elmhirst travelled to India to work as Tagore's private
secretary. MORE PTI HSR
KAB


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