One
would exclaim instantly ~ what a
beautiful painting ! On the streets of
Thiruvallikkeni in my younger days, a
person would draw paintings of God & Goddesses with chalkpieces on the streets (I would feel sorry for him,
if it rains !)
This
beautiful painting is by a French artist - Olaf Van Cleef. He was a jewelery salesman at Cartier for 33
years. He lived for a long time in Paris
then in Pondicherry too. He started painting at a young age, his subjects are
often Indian - portraits of Hindu Gods
and Goddesses as well as scenes from
Hindu mythology. At the request of the
Rajah Ravi Varma Foundation Heritage (Bangalore, India) he embellished and
enriched with Swarovski elements four reeditions of engravings by the painter
Ravi Varma in order to "crystallize for eternity" four masterpieces
of the deceased artist in 1906.
Vincent Willem van
Gogh (1853 – 1890) was a Post-Impressionist painter of Dutch origin whose work,
notable for its rough beauty, emotional honesty, and bold colour. After years
of painful anxiety and frequent bouts of mental illness, the much acclaimed
painter of now, died aged 37 from a gunshot wound, generally accepted to be
self-inflicted. In 1885, he painted his
first major work, entitled The Potato Eaters. The self-portrait [a
representation of an artist, drawn, painted, photographed, or sculpted by the
artist] shows the artist in three-quarter profile standing in a room in the
Yellow House wearing a closed coat and a fur cap. His right ear is bandaged. It
was in fact his left ear that was bandaged, the painting being a mirror image.
Van Gogh shows the bandage on his mutilated ear like a saint displaying the
stigmata; the act of self-mutilation changed Van Gogh.
The crisis in Yes
Bank and its impact on customers nationwide has yet again raised the issue of
business accountability. Last year, the Mumbai based Punjab and Maharashtra
Cooperative (PMC) Bank was placed under an RBI administrator for six months due
to massive under-reporting of unrecoverable loans. 73% of its advances are
believed to have been given to one realty company DHFL, now bankrupt, with
thousands of customers facing difficulty in withdrawing their money due to
restrictions imposed by RBI. Banks are
not the only businesses that have put consumers in a spot. The collapse of Jet
Airways and Cox & Kings left many travellers stranded and left their plans
in disarray. Even outside direct impact, investors in firms like IL&FS and
DHFL saw their investments evaporate overnight due to mismanagement, fraud and
rampant corruption. Many Indians still bear the scars from corporate scams and
failures ranging from the Harshad Mehta scam in the 90s, to the Satyam Computer
collapse in 2009. All this has resulted in widening the already existing trust
deficit with businesses.
Paintings
are costly – in 2015, a
painting by Pablo Picasso set a new world record for the most expensive
artwork to be sold at auction after reaching $179m (Rs.1149 crores approx) in
New York. The painting had been on a pre-sale world tour in Hong Kong, London
and New York. Picasso was a Spanish
painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, stage designer, poet and playwright
who spent most of his adult life in France.
‘Women of Algiers in their Apartment’ is an 1834 oil on canvas painting
by Eugène Delacroix. King Louis
Philippe bought it and presented it to the Musée du Luxembourg, which at that
time was a museum for contemporary art.
It depicts Algerian concubines of a harem with a hookah, that
served as a source of inspiration to the later impressionists, and a series of 15 paintings and numerous
drawings by Pablo Picasso in 1954. Picasso's Women of Algiers became the most expensive painting to sell at auction.
This painting now
in news is nothing comparable buut yet was sold at ₹2cr
– because it was a deal between big people !!
Based on statements recorded by
Yes Bank founder Rana Kapoor with investigating officers that he was coerced
into buying a painting from Priyanka Gandhi for ₹2
crore, the Enforcement Directorate will soon summon the Congress general
secretary for questioning and is likely to attach her cottage near Shimla in
Himachal Pradesh. In his statement
recorded at the ED office in Mumbai on Sunday, Kapoor claimed that Congress’s
former South Mumbai MP Milind Deora pressured him to buy a portrait of ex-PM
Rajiv Gandhi from Priyanka for ₹2 crore. Under the
anti-money laundering law, the money taken from Kapoor, an accused, which
Priyanka spent on her cottage near Shimla, qualifies to be treated as “proceeds of crime” and this renders
the property vulnerable to the prospect of being attached by the ED.
** Sources
said Deora was also likely to be questioned in connection with the transaction
which agency officials believe was inspired by more than Kapoor’s interest in
the painting. Congress has denied there was anything wrong in Priyanka selling
off M F Hussain’s portrait of Rajiv Gandhi to Kapoor. The party had on Sunday
said it was a legitimate transaction which Priyanka had disclosed in her income
tax returns, adding that it was being highlighted by the government as a
“diversionary ploy”. Deora did not comment.
Sources
in the ED, however, cited text messages recovered from Kapoor’s smartphone as
well as his statement to say that the controversial banker, accused of
siphoning off more than ₹4,000
crore from Yes Bank, may not have bought Rajiv Gandhi’s portrait of his own volition. Citing email and text messages
that Deora sent from his BlackBerry and which, interestingly, Kapoor had
preserved for a decade, sources said the transaction was initiated by the
former South Mumbai MP. Deora first wrote to Kapoor on May 1, 2010, asking him
to write to “Mrs Gandhi” showing his willingness to buy the Rajiv Gandhi
portrait.
He
pursued the matter vigorously by sending text messages and again wrote to
Kapoor when the latter delayed making the payment because he wanted to meet the
Gandhis before closing the deal. An exasperated Deora wrote on May 29, 2010,
“Rana uncle, I received your letter dated May 28th and have sent the same to
PG. A meeting with her or her family won’t be possible now but I’ll try and
arrange it sometime later. Her mother and she want the cheque by early next
week itself. Even my father has been informed by them and he’s also been trying
to reach you unsuccessfully. Unfortunately, this has taken really long. Can you
pls reply to this SMS and tell me the exact date by when the cheque can be
given to her as I MUST communicate the same to my father and her ASAP! I know
you are receiving SMSes so I’d really appreciate your reply.” (sic) Deora’s
keenness for early payment to Priyanka comes across in the message he sent to
Kapoor on June 2, 2010, at 4:17 pm in which he said, “Rana uncle, pls let me
know when I can collect the cheque. I have been assuring them week after week
that it’s happening and they have lost patience at this stage. Pls trust me and
don’t delay any further. Tks. Milind.”
The
following day, Kapoor issued a cheque for ₹2 crore to Priyanka from his personal account in HSBC Bank.
Investigations showed that he got Yes Bank to reimburse himself entirely:
something which, according to agency officials, meets the threshold of
“proceeds of crime” under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
Priyanka acknowledged the payment of ₹2 crore as “the full and final
payment towards subject painting” in a letter to Kapoor the next day. She
emphasised that the painting was “presently in her ownership and possession”,
adding, “I trust you are aware of the historical value of this work, and will
ensure its placement in an environment that befits its stature.”
ED
sources said the agency would also look into Priyanka’s claim of ownership of
the painting which Hussain had presented to Rajiv Gandhi at Congress’s
centenary celebrations in 1985. “We have to see whether it was the property of
Congress party,” a source said.
With
regards – S. Sampathkumar
**
news source TOI Chennai edition of date
10.03.2020.
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