Welcome

Website counter
website hit counter
website hit counters

Friday, November 25, 2011

Egg on the face of fake Tagore champions - All 20 paintings counterfeit, concludes probe launched after The Telegraph Metro exposé SOUMITRA DAS

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1111126/jsp/frontpage/story_14801587.jsp
Egg on the face of fake Tagore champions
- All 20 paintings counterfeit, concludes probe launched after The Telegraph Metro exposé
The Telegraph Metro report on March 2, 2011

Calcutta, Nov. 25: Twenty purported Rabindranath Tagore paintings that were on display at a city exhibition commemorating the poet's 150th birth anniversary earlier this year have been declared fakes in a report submitted to Calcutta High Court on Friday.

The additional solicitor-general of India presented the report on behalf of Gautam Sengupta, the director-general of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), stating that all the 20 paintings exhibited at the Government College of Art & Craft from February 27 to March 8 had been examined stylistically and scientifically before being held as counterfeit.

The Telegraph was the first to highlight the scam in a report on March 2, quoting the veteran art critic Pranabranjan Roy as saying that the paintings displayed at the central Calcutta institute were all counterfeit.

The exposé prompted sculptor Tapas Sarkar to file a petition in the high court on March 9, leading to the first-ever probe in India into a dispute relating to an art treasure under the Antiquities and Art Treasures Act, 1972. R. Siva Kumar, a Kala Bhavan professor at Visva-Bharati, too had pronounced the paintings as fakes after seeing their digital images. He had warned Dipali Bhattacharya, the principal of the Government College of Art & Craft, against holding the exhibition but she went ahead with it. In the face of a chorus of criticism from the art world, she maintained that the paintings were genuine works by Tagore.

The fake paintings were sourced from the collection of Jayanta Banerjee of Dhanbad, who had, according to Dipali Bhattacharya, received them from Rani Mahalanobis. It was later revealed that this Tagore associate had nothing more than some manuscripts, sketches and other paraphernalia in her famous trunk, which she bequeathed to Rabindra Bhavan in Santiniketan in the early 1980s.

Poet Sankha Ghosh, who was witness to the negotiations with Mahalanobis for institutional acquisition, had earlier confirmed that there was no painting in that collection, a statement later endorsed by the UK-based Tagore scholar, Ketaki Kushari Dyson. Both Dyson and Sushobhon Adhikary, the curator of the Kala Bhavan Museum at Visva-Bharati, had categorically stated that the paintings were fakes after seeing their digital images emailed by The Telegraph.

Counsel Kausik Chanda, appearing for the petitioner, said in court on Friday that "there was a criminal conspiracy" behind the exhibition with the "ill motive" of passing off these counterfeits as genuine Tagore paintings so that they would fetch the same price as the originals, running into crores.

Ashok Banerjee, the advocate appearing on behalf of the Government College of Art & Craft, said it was a serious matter and he would look into it. Jaidip Kar, appearing on behalf of artist Jogen Chowdhury, said his client owned one of the 20 paintings that were exhibited, and it was only from the report submitted on Friday that he came to know that it was a fake. Chanda said the source of the fake painting should be disclosed.

The division bench of chief justice Jaynarayan Patel and Dr Sambuddha Chakrabarty directed the additional solicitor-general of India to circulate the report among the parties. The next hearing is slated for December 9.

Top
Email This Page Print This Page

 More stories in Front Page

  • Veil off twin stands on FDI
  • Parivartan and penetration led police to Maoist 
  • A final agreement with little to cheer about
  • Egg on the face of fake Tagore champions 
  • Tihar revives shuttler Raja 
  • Deal inked, dream lives
  • State steps up border vigil

No comments:

मैं नास्तिक क्यों हूं# Necessity of Atheism#!Genetics Bharat Teertha

হে মোর চিত্ত, Prey for Humanity!

मनुस्मृति नस्ली राजकाज राजनीति में OBC Trump Card और जयभीम कामरेड

Gorkhaland again?আত্মঘাতী বাঙালি আবার বিভাজন বিপর্যয়ের মুখোমুখি!

हिंदुत्व की राजनीति का मुकाबला हिंदुत्व की राजनीति से नहीं किया जा सकता।

In conversation with Palash Biswas

Palash Biswas On Unique Identity No1.mpg

Save the Universities!

RSS might replace Gandhi with Ambedkar on currency notes!

जैसे जर्मनी में सिर्फ हिटलर को बोलने की आजादी थी,आज सिर्फ मंकी बातों की आजादी है।

#BEEFGATEঅন্ধকার বৃত্তান্তঃ হত্যার রাজনীতি

अलविदा पत्रकारिता,अब कोई प्रतिक्रिया नहीं! पलाश विश्वास

ভালোবাসার মুখ,প্রতিবাদের মুখ মন্দাক্রান্তার পাশে আছি,যে মেয়েটি আজও লিখতে পারছেঃ আমাক ধর্ষণ করবে?

Palash Biswas on BAMCEF UNIFICATION!

THE HIMALAYAN TALK: PALASH BISWAS ON NEPALI SENTIMENT, GORKHALAND, KUMAON AND GARHWAL ETC.and BAMCEF UNIFICATION! Published on Mar 19, 2013 The Himalayan Voice Cambridge, Massachusetts United States of America

BAMCEF UNIFICATION CONFERENCE 7

Published on 10 Mar 2013 ALL INDIA BAMCEF UNIFICATION CONFERENCE HELD AT Dr.B. R. AMBEDKAR BHAVAN,DADAR,MUMBAI ON 2ND AND 3RD MARCH 2013. Mr.PALASH BISWAS (JOURNALIST -KOLKATA) DELIVERING HER SPEECH. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLL-n6MrcoM http://youtu.be/oLL-n6MrcoM

Imminent Massive earthquake in the Himalayas

Palash Biswas on Citizenship Amendment Act

Mr. PALASH BISWAS DELIVERING SPEECH AT BAMCEF PROGRAM AT NAGPUR ON 17 & 18 SEPTEMBER 2003 Sub:- CITIZENSHIP AMENDMENT ACT 2003 http://youtu.be/zGDfsLzxTXo

Tweet Please

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...

THE HIMALAYAN TALK: PALASH BISWAS BLASTS INDIANS THAT CLAIM BUDDHA WAS BORN IN INDIA

THE HIMALAYAN TALK: INDIAN GOVERNMENT FOOD SECURITY PROGRAM RISKIER

http://youtu.be/NrcmNEjaN8c The government of India has announced food security program ahead of elections in 2014. We discussed the issue with Palash Biswas in Kolkata today. http://youtu.be/NrcmNEjaN8c Ahead of Elections, India's Cabinet Approves Food Security Program ______________________________________________________ By JIM YARDLEY http://india.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/07/04/indias-cabinet-passes-food-security-law/

THE HIMALAYAN TALK: PALASH BISWAS TALKS AGAINST CASTEIST HEGEMONY IN SOUTH ASIA

THE HIMALAYAN VOICE: PALASH BISWAS DISCUSSES RAM MANDIR

Published on 10 Apr 2013 Palash Biswas spoke to us from Kolkota and shared his views on Visho Hindu Parashid's programme from tomorrow ( April 11, 2013) to build Ram Mandir in disputed Ayodhya. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77cZuBunAGk

THE HIMALAYAN TALK: PALASH BISWAS LASHES OUT KATHMANDU INT'L 'MULVASI' CONFERENCE

अहिले भर्खर कोलकता भारतमा हामीले पलाश विश्वाससंग काठमाडौँमा आज भै रहेको अन्तर्राष्ट्रिय मूलवासी सम्मेलनको बारेमा कुराकानी गर्यौ । उहाले भन्नु भयो सो सम्मेलन 'नेपालको आदिवासी जनजातिहरुको आन्दोलनलाई कम्जोर बनाउने षडयन्त्र हो।' http://youtu.be/j8GXlmSBbbk

THE HIMALAYAN DISASTER: TRANSNATIONAL DISASTER MANAGEMENT MECHANISM A MUST

We talked with Palash Biswas, an editor for Indian Express in Kolkata today also. He urged that there must a transnational disaster management mechanism to avert such scale disaster in the Himalayas. http://youtu.be/7IzWUpRECJM

THE HIMALAYAN TALK: PALASH BISWAS CRITICAL OF BAMCEF LEADERSHIP

[Palash Biswas, one of the BAMCEF leaders and editors for Indian Express spoke to us from Kolkata today and criticized BAMCEF leadership in New Delhi, which according to him, is messing up with Nepalese indigenous peoples also. He also flayed MP Jay Narayan Prasad Nishad, who recently offered a Puja in his New Delhi home for Narendra Modi's victory in 2014.]

THE HIMALAYAN TALK: PALASH BISWAS CRITICIZES GOVT FOR WORLD`S BIGGEST BLACK OUT

THE HIMALAYAN TALK: PALASH BISWAS CRITICIZES GOVT FOR WORLD`S BIGGEST BLACK OUT

THE HIMALAYAN TALK: PALSH BISWAS FLAYS SOUTH ASIAN GOVERNM

Palash Biswas, lashed out those 1% people in the government in New Delhi for failure of delivery and creating hosts of problems everywhere in South Asia. http://youtu.be/lD2_V7CB2Is

THE HIMALAYAN TALK: PALASH BISWAS LASHES OUT KATHMANDU INT'L 'MULVASI' CONFERENCE

अहिले भर्खर कोलकता भारतमा हामीले पलाश विश्वाससंग काठमाडौँमा आज भै रहेको अन्तर्राष्ट्रिय मूलवासी सम्मेलनको बारेमा कुराकानी गर्यौ । उहाले भन्नु भयो सो सम्मेलन 'नेपालको आदिवासी जनजातिहरुको आन्दोलनलाई कम्जोर बनाउने षडयन्त्र हो।' http://youtu.be/j8GXlmSBbbk