Controversy over 'fake' Tagore paintings

Kolkata: Imitation is the best form of flattery but not where serious money is involved.

Eighteen paintings, purportedly by India's first Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore, and currently on show in Kolkata, have triggered off an ugly controversy with some experts claiming they are fakes. The exhibition is being hosted by the Government Art College which has produced some of the country's best known artists. The controversy couldn't have come at a worse time. The whole country is celebrating the 150th birth anniversary of Tagore.

Three of the Tagore paintings at the exhibition have come from the Indian Museum and no one is questioning those. But 18 paintings borrowed from a private collector have been labelled fakes by art experts who are questioning the style of the paintings and their provenance.

"What makes me angry is that the whole exhibition devalues Rabindranath as a painter. Where is the mystery, the subtelty which makes Rabindranath a great painter," said Pranab Ranjan Ray, an art critic. 

Ray is not alone. Experts at Shantiniketan's Viswa Bharati have backed him. 

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"From the digital images, I am sure that except the paintings that came from the Indian Museum, the rest are fakes, a majority of them are fakes. And they are rather crude fakes," claimed Prof R Siva Kumar, Kala Bhavan, Viswa Bharati.

"I really know Tagore's stroke, colour, palate. These are completely fake paintings, I should say," said Sushobhan Adhikary, Curator, Kala Bhavan Museum, Viswa Bharati.

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The show's host, Government Art College, Kolkata, is outraged. According to the principal, the paintings belong to one Jayanta Banerjee of Dhanbad who got them from Rani Mahalanobis who is the widow of Tagore's secretary and friend Prasanta Mahalanobis.

"Tagore has 3000 paintings and he was someone who never developed one particular style. He has painted in many styles. Some people are saying they are too refined. Maybe when he was matured, towards the end of his life...who knows. But what we have to go by are the tests that are available. I am more than willing to do that," said Dipali Bhattacharya, Principal, Government College Of Art And Crafts.

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Critics say no test is fool proof. There are also hints at mala fide intent. Exhibiting them at the prestigious College would legitimise the fakes which could then fetch princely sums. At a recent auction in London, a set of 12 Tagore paintings sold for 9.9 crore rupees.