Toulouse: A painting of the “Indian Picasso” at auction at Primardeco
This Thursday, the Hôtel des Ventes Primardeco (Ivoire Toulouse) came across a painting by the Indian artist, Husain, at auction. A painting with an unusual history.
Jérôme de Colonges admits: “it is the first time in my long career as an auctioneer that I am auctioning off an Indian painting”. And not just any. A painting by the contemporary painter Maqbool Fida Husain, renowned in his country, exhibited all over the world and called “The Picasso of India”. An artist who died in 2014, went through various modes of expression including the figurative. “His paintings often recount Indian mythology, confirms Jérôme de Colonges. The painting up for auction this Thursday, Allegorical Representation of an Indian Bestiary, painted in 1982, details the story of three sacred animals in India linked to gods and goddesses, the elephant (Ganash), the tiger (Durga) and the monkey (Hanuman). Myths and figures mixed together in a great fantasy by this artist”.
An artist who touches everything, also went through the art of the poster in 1935 with productions for Bollywood. He was also a talented director, rewarded in 1967 with a Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival. And a daring artist, representing in 1970, an Indian deity, naked. Which will cause a big scandal in the country and put his life in danger. Threatened with death by Indian fundamentalists, he was forced into exile in 2006 between Dubai and London.
“I will write this unusual story in my memoirs”
Alongside the rarity of the sale, it is the story of this canvas that is surprising: “I discovered this painting during the inventory of a house on the Côte Pavée, continued Jérôme de Colonges. Obviously, the question immediately arose: how did this canvas arrive in Toulouse? “.
The owner then details to the auctioneer the unusual journey of this painting. “In her youth, she followed her parents to New York. One evening, they welcome to their home a young Indian artist passing through New York for an exhibition on Mother Teresa, encountered in her visits to the poorest. This artist is Fida Husein, who began in painting. To ask them for their welcome, the young artist would have given this painting to the parents of the young woman, underestimating its value”. The canvas then traveled extensively with its owner, before coming to this Toulouse apartment. Estimated at between €40,000 and €50,000, according to Jérôme de Colonges, this painting could go for a lot more. “A story to write in my memoirs as an auctioneer”.
This Thursday at 2 p.m., at Primardeco, 14 rue du Rempart Saint-Etienne in Toulouse.