On November 15, I had reported on this website that a work by MF Husain sold during an Art Bull auction was alleged to be a fake. After the story was published, I received a call from Siddharth Tagore, owner of Art Bull, on November 16 clarifying that Shamshad Hussain had provided him with an authenticity certificate for the work. I immediately called Shamshad Hussain who confirmed that he had indeed done so on November 16.
On Novemeber 15, my calls to Siddharth Tagore to clarify the claims about the work were unanswered. I spoke with Husain’s Delhi based son Shamshad Hussain and Mumbai-based daughter Raeesa Hussain, who both said that they had not yet seen the work and could not comment on it.I further spoke with Ina Puri who has full authority to authenticate Manjit Bawa’s work and I have duly mentioned that once the auction house got to know about her doubt about one of Bawa’s works, it was removed from the auction. I have also quoted artist Chandra Bhattacharjee’s FB quote verbatim thanking Siddharth Tagore for removing his work from the auction once the artist denied it being his work.
Since the Husain work in question, now comes with an authenticity certificate, it is my responsibility to report the same.