The Hindu Business Line : Emami, Kolkata art gallery tie up for auction house

Kolkata, Nov 21 The Rs 1,500-crore turnover personal care & health care products and healthcare major Emami Group has tied up with Chisel Crafts, the parent company of the Kolkata-based Aakriti Art Gallery, to set up eastern India’s first permanent art auction house here.

According to informed sources, the art auction house – being set up under the banner of joint venture company Emami Chisel Art – would have its physical infrastructure on the Eastern Metropolitan Bypass where live floor auctions and online auctions would be held simultaneously from February 2008 onwards.

The sources said that, besides holding auctions of paintings, prints, drawings and sculptures on a regular basis, the facility would also house an archive, a library of art books and an in-house publication house that would publish books on art and artists. Each auction would highlight thematically showcased events based on their form and treatment, such as abstract, figurative, period or region-specific art.

Emami Chisel Art’s first live floor and simultaneous online auction has been scheduled for February 16, 2008. The auction will highlight modern and contemporary Indian art featuring the works of renowned artists such as M.F. Hussain, S.H. Raza, Bikash Bhattacharjee, Ganesh Pyne, Shyamal Dutta Roy, Gopal Ghosh, Chattrapati Dutta, Samudranath Majumdar and Chandan Bhattacharjee.

The sources said the last date for acceptance of all art works is December 15, 2007. The selected works would be displayed for a first preview at New Delhi in the first week of February 2008 followed by a second preview in Kolkata before the maiden auction takes off on February 16, 2008.

Between 80 and 100 works of art would be sold on that day, generating sale proceeds of around Rs 10 crore.

The size of the Indian art market, including the auction market, has been pegged at Rs 300 crore.

It is growing at 35-50 per cent annually, according to the sources.

More Stories on : Alliances & Joint Ventures | Arts & Crafts | West Bengal

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