Anil Ambani takes art collection to Christie's, to raise Rs 81 cr

Wed, May 7 05:05 PM

Billionaire Indian businessman Anil Ambani's wife Tina Ambani is seeking to raise over 1,00,000 pounds (Rs 81 crore) for her Harmony Art Foundation by selling a dozen art works at Christie's, which is also exhibiting 32 works from the Ambani family's private collection.

The global auction powerhouse said in a statement that starting on Wednesday, Christie's London would exhibit 32 works from Tina and Anil Ambani's private collection, which are being put in public view for the first time.

These include works by M F Hussain, Tyeb Mehta and S H Raza and the exhibition would continue till June 10.

Coinciding with the exhibition, Christie's would also hold an auction for 12 works being offered by the Harmony Art Foundation, of which Tina Ambani is the founder and patron, in association with Barclays Wealth on June 11.

The auction is estimated to fetch in excess of 1,00,000 pounds and the proceeds would go towards future activities of the Foundation.

The works on auction include M F Hussain's Untitled (estimated worth of 12,000-18,000 pounds), Francis Newton Souza's Untitled, 1956 (estimated worth 15,000-20,000 pounds) and Navjot Altaf's powerful sculpture December 15th, 2000 (estimate of 18,000-20,000 pounds).

"This collection has evolved naturally from a desire to seek beauty and creativity in myriad forms and promote emerging talent in India. It gives us both enormous personal pleasure and pride to share this collection with art cognoscenti and connoisseurs. We hope this evokes a greater interest in Indian art - its diversity and virtuosity," Tina and Anil Ambani said in a statement about their private collection being exhibited at Christie's.

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