When a portrait comes in the sight of a viewer, one of the most repeated questions is about the sitter. Whether it’s the Mona Lisa, Raphael’s La Fornarina, or Klimt’s Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I, viewers often seek to learn more about the sitter. Contrary to this, the Portrait of Indian Independence Icon Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi goes on auction, the only portraiture Gandhi sat for. The painting has never been on auction before, and Bonhams auction house puts an estimate of £50,000 – 70,000 when it finally goes on sale at the Travel and Exploration sale, running from 7 to 15 July.
Mahatma Gandhi visited London in 1931 to attend the Second Round Table Conference and met Clare Leighton through Political English Journalist Henry Noel Brailsford, whom the artist was dating at the time. Henry was a supporter of Indian Independence and had met Gandhi during the Round Table Conference in 1930. Around the same time, he traveled to India and wrote the book Rebel India to support its independence from British Rule. Clare was one of the handful of painters who met Gandhi and had been offered the opportunity to attend his office, giving her several occasions to paint him. Rhyanon Demery, Bonhams Head of Sale, commented,
“Not only is this a rare work by Clare Leighton, who is mainly known for her wood engravings, it is also thought to be the only oil painting of Mahatma Gandhi which he sat for. The work remained in the artist’s collection until her death in 1989, after which it was passed down through her family, and so Bonhams is delighted to be offering this rare portrait for the first time at auction.”
Often referred to as the “Father of the Nation,” Gandhi supported independence at the cost of non-violence, and this idealogy is blamed for having delayed the country’s freedom. Western journalists and media outlets tend to have a soft spot for him, even when recent discussions have outlined his identity as a political personality rather than a Freedom Fighter, such as Subhash Chandra Bose and Shaheed Bhagat Singh. Gandhi made several decisions that put him against the right wing, ultimately causing the crime of him being shot by Godse. Enough about the sitter though and when the painting is studied through its exhibitions, we learn that Clare Leighton presented her paintings of Gandhi for the first time at Albany Galleries in London in 1931 during an exhibition. Journalist Winifred Holtby attended the opening and wrote about the same in her column for The Schoolmistress,
“‘Members of Parliament and ex-Members, artists, journalists and art critics, stood among exquisite Indian women in bright saris, and the dignified figures of some of the chief Hindu representatives at the Conference. Mrs Naidu, the statesman-poet, was there… and Sir Purshotamdas Thakurdas, one of the Mahatma’s colleagues.”
Gandhi was not present at this party, but his presence was indeed a subject of talk, as viewers saw his “only oil portrait that Gandhi actually sat for.” Holtby wrote,
“The little man squats bare-headed, in his blanket, one finger raised, as it often is to emphasise a point, his lips parted for a word that is almost a smile. That is very much as I saw him when he came as guest to a big luncheon in Westminster at which I was present a little while ago. He was the political leader there, the subtle negotiator, the manipulator of Congress, the brilliant lawyer, the statesman who knows just how to play on the psychology of friends and enemies alike.”
The following month, Gandhi’s personal secretary Mohadev Desai wrote a letter to Leighton, a copy of which is attached to the painting’s backboard. It read,
“It was such a pleasure to have had you here for many mornings doing Mr Gandhi’s portrait. I am sorry I didn’t see the final result, but many of my friends who saw it in the Albany Gallery said to me that it was a good likeness. I am quite sure Mr Gandhi has no objection to its being reproduced.”
Details of the painting’s exhibition can not be traced until 1978 when Leighton’s work was displayed at Boston Public Library. The artist’s family says that the painting was exhibited in 1974 when it was attacked with a knife by an R.S.S activist; a label from 1974 attached to the backboard confirms the restoration of the painting by Lyman Allyn Museum Conservation Laboratory. However, it is significant to note that the details of this attack are unclear and this is the only information provided by the auction house.
Featured Image: Portrait of Gandhi by Clare Leighton; Bonhams.
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