Gandhi adorable among artefacts at auctions

With October 2 around the corner, it's customary to pay tributes to Mahatma Gandhi. But, as has become the case lately, these tributes are more a means to dissect and criticize Gandhi's role in India's freedom struggle with the aim to belittle his actions and decisions. However, no matter what political dispensation one belongs to, it cannot be denied that Gandhi, indeed, was the prime architect of India's struggle for freedom in the 20th century; one can hate him, or love him, but one cannot ignore his role at any cost.

This column, however, is not going to add more grist to the mill of debate centering on Gandhi and his relevance in current times. My concern is to take a broad look at how artists have dealt with his persona - not incredulous considering the fact that irrespective of the ebb and rise of his popularity, he remains a seminal figure of the world politics of the twentieth century and continues to be an inspiration for creativity. This column will focus on how Gandhi has proved to be an enduring inspiration and how works inspired by Gandhi, and more importantly, memorabilia associated with him, have fared at the auctions.

Gandhi as muse for artists

Gandhi, as during his lifetime and even 74 years after his death, continues to inspire artists, both in India and abroad. It was during his lifetime - in April 1930 - that Nandalal Bose, one of India's nine National Treasure Artists, made the very famous linocut on paper sketch of the Mahatma, depicting him on the Dandi March (12 March – 6 April 1930). This simple line sketch remains one of the most used representations of the Mahatma in popular culture.

Innumerable other Indian artists made sketches and portraits of Gandhi during his lifetime; it's interesting that several foreign artists too have found inspiration in Gandhi for their art, quite a few of them having never met him in person. These included Elias M Grossman (1898-1947), the American artist for whom Gandhi sat for a portrait on his visit to London in 1931; the Polish artist Fredda Brilliant (1903-1999) whose big bronze statue of the seated Gandhi graces the Tavistock Square in London (she made quite a few other statues of Gandhi in her career); Mexican painter and caricaturist José Clemente Orozco (1883-1949), whose work is part of National Heritage of Mexico and cannot be exported from that country; or the more recent portrait by France-based Bangladeshi artist Ahmed Shahabuddin, painted in 1994, which reminisces the art of Francis Bacon, primarily because of its gestural brushstrokes, making it one of the most modern renditions of the famous bust of Gandhi… the list is too long and exhaustive to recount in any considerable length here.

Among contemporary Indian artists, most of whom were born way after India attained Independence, Gandhi continues to be as strong as muse as ever. Of special mention here should be Debanjan Roy, whose red Gandhi sculptures, showing the Father of the Nation leading a smiling life in the 21st century have caught the attention of lay admirers and connoisseurs alike in the recent past. The Kolkata-based artist has created several fibre-glass sculptures of Gandhi, mostly painted in red, in series such as 'Looking for Bapu', 'Experiments with Truth', and 'Who has seen Gandhi?' among others. Some of the quirky sculptures from these series include Gandhi working on the laptop, Gandhi walking the dog while chatting on a mobile phone, Gandhi with headphones, and many more.

The list of Indian artists - both modern and contemporary - who have found their muse in Gandhi has endless entries. From Jamini Roy, who made an impressionist portrait of Gandhi to MF Husain, who rendered him as a semi-abstract figure, from Asit Kumar Haldar and Akbar Padamsee to Manu Parekh, Atul Dodiya and Shibu Natesan, there is hardly an artist who has not interpreted the most important ideological force of India in his/ her own style.

Gandhi memorabilia at auctions

Given Gandhi's enduring appeal globally, it is not a surprise that artworks inspired by him almost always fetch more than the highest estimated price, and if not, then the high end of the estimate. But it is the memorabilia associated with Gandhi - signed or unsigned rare photographs, signed portraits, letters, other hand-written notes, etc. - that command good prices at the auctions whenever they appear on sale.

For instance, a set of nine letters and cards written by Gandhi to Jamnabehn, a member of the extended Gandhi clan and a charkha weaver who worked alongside Dadabhai Naoroji's grandchildren Perin Ben Captain and Khurshed Behn, was estimated at £6,000–8,000 at a Sotheby's auction in 2019 but sold eventually for £20,000 (approx. Rs 17 lakh at current rates). Another set of his three letters to Sarat Chandra Bose discussing the partition of Bengal during negotiations for Independence, signed 'Bapu', fetched £37,500 (approx. Rs 32 lakh at current rates) at a Sotheby's auction in 2017, against an estimate of £12,000–18,000.

Similarly, £30,000 (approx. Rs 26 lakh at current rates) was the price was achieved by a set of his three hand-written letters (two to Edmund Gibson, British resident the states of western India, and one to Lt. Col. Cyril Percy Hancock, a civil servant in the Indian Civil Service) at a Christie's auction in 2018 against an estimate of £10,000 – 15,000. A rare, signed photograph of Gandhi at tea with Lord Mountbatten, 1947, achieved £37,500 (approx. Rs 32 lakh at current rates) at a Christie's auction in 2019, against an estimate of £10,000 – 15,000.

Among the Gandhi artworks at the auctions, one of the top selling canvases has been 'Gandhi, Man of Peace', a 1969 oil on canvas by M. F. Husain that sold for $152,500 (approx. Rs 1.24 crore) at a Christie's auction in March 2009. A similar work from Husain, titled 'Gandhi', watercolour and acrylic on paper from the late 1970s, sold for Rs 39 lakh ($90,915) at a Saffronart auction in December 2006. Another Gandhi portrait, a gouache on card by Jamini Roy, executed after 1920 but before he abandoned his western academic training in favour of his signature Kalighat 'pat'-inspired style, features the Mahatma in impressionist brush strokes. At a Christie's auction in December 2016, it fetched Rs 11 lakh against an estimate of Rs 4 lakh – 6 lakh. A gouache on paper work by Asit Kumar Haldar, featuring Rabindranath Tagore and Gandhi, dated circa 1949-1952, fetched Rs 78 lakh at a Saffronart auction in December 2021, against an estimate of Rs 18 lakh – 24 lakh. The prices achieved against the estimates are a strong pointer towards Gandhi's abiding appeal in the auction circuit.

(The writer is a New Delhi-based journalist, editor and arts consultant. She blogs at www.archanakhareghose.com)