Pyne postcards to friend sold for 24L

Kolkata: A set of eight postcards with watercolour drawings by artist

Ganesh Pyne

to friend Maniklal Chattopadhyay, sent between 1959 and 1962, have been sold for Rs 24 lakh at a recent online auction. What is equally relevant is that the auction house is going to give Pyne’s legal heir 4% financial payment from this amount. This was announced at the online auction by DeRivaz & Ives titled ‘Indian Modern Fine Arts’ where important artwork of Gaganendranath Tagore, Jamini Roy and Ganesh

Pyne

did well, along with that of other painters. This system of sharing money — Artist

Resale Royalty

(ARR) — with legal heirs will be followed by the auction house whenever works of great masters go under the public hammer.

Meera Pyne

, wife of Ganesh Pyne, said, “No one has earlier taken this initiative. I am happy.” On January 22, an auction that sold art worth Rs 11.9 crore, including Gaganendranath Tagore’s pioneering cubist-inspired painting for Rs 12 lakh and two other Ganesh Pyne lots for Rs 70 lakh and Rs 3,60,000 respectively. Jamini Roy’s ‘Christ Coming Down from the Cross to the Virgins’ was sold for Rs 24 lakh. According to

Neville Tuli

, chief mentor, DeRivaz & Ives, said, “ARR ensures artists or their legal heirs are given a financial payment for their art sold in secondary public auctions, from 2%-4%, depending on secondary sale value. The right to payment will last for the copyright period. This radical move sets the tone for the art world, artists, their legal heirs in India.”