Going, going, gone! City learns auction ropes

KOLKATA: It was art at its best for the city's glitterati with a taste for the sublime. A poolside lounge played host to a high-decibel auction that was masterfully conducted by Christie's, one of the biggest names in the business.
It was just after 11 am on Saturday that the auctioneer from Christie's rose to the podium and put the first painting, a dry pastel on paper by Jogen Chowdhury, under the hammer.The reserve price set for the painting titled The Russian Girl was Rs 4 lakh. Krishan Katyal of tea auction firm J Thomas & Co was quick on the take and made the first bid at Rs 6.5 lakh. Someone in the crowd raised his paddle. "Thirteen," he said softly.
"Thirteen it is. Anyone in the crowd to bid higher? The Russian Girl going for Rs 13 lakh...," Christie's Maneka Kumari Shah enticed the crowd. Someone raised his paddle, and she was quick to spot. "Yes, a new entrant making a higher bid. Yes, please."
"Sixteen," said Katyal, and a crowd stirred a little. The winter morning was warming up. It hadn't been a bad start at all. The Jogen Chowdhury painting went for Rs 16 lakh.
Next on the slot was a Sunil Das charcoal on paper. The sketch, done in 1959, drew a sprightly response. Three more paintings followed a Gopal Ghose gouache on paper, Manjari Chakravarti's acrylic on canvas (Imagine) and Sandip Roy's watercolour on paper (Marshy Landscape). Each time, Shah coaxed and cajoled the crowd to delve a wee bit deeper into their pockets, loosen their pursestrings and take home a worthy Christmas present.
Time for the final call of the afternoon. Just when the final bid was to be announced to wrap up the events of the day, another bidder jumped into the fray and stole the show by quoting an unbeatable price. The crowd broke into applause.
"It was lovely to host the event. It has been a learning experience and a great time for Bengal art," said Young FICCI Ladies' Organisation chairperson Gunjan Poddar. It was a learning experience for nearly everyone present there. The event was designed to expose the uninitiated into the exciting world of auctions. For the record, it was a mock auction.