Gandhi's pencil portrait auction fetches £32,500
A rare pencil portrait of Mahatma Gandhi, drawn from life and inscribed by him in 1931, was auctioned in London on Tuesday for £32,500, about four times its estimated price. In addition to the portrait, a collection of handwritten letters by Mahatma Gandhi to the family of Sarat Chandra Bose, a freedom fighter and the elder brother of Subhas Chandra Bose, fetched £37,500 at a Sotheby’s auction. It includes key comments from Gandhi on the partition of Bengal in the months before his assassination, where he wrote: “You should give up the struggle for unity of Bengal and cease to disturb the atmosphere that has been created for partition of Bengal.”
Gandhi was known to be reluctant to sit for any portraits, but this was a rare pencil sketch of the leader by artist John Henry Amshewitz (1882-1942) for which he believed to be have sat through, during his visit to London for the 1931 Round Table conference.
In a statement the auction house said, “Gandhi usually refused to sit for formal photographs, let alone a portraitist, making this an extremely rare portrayal of the political leader at work.” The sketch shows Gandhi writing seating on the floor with a look of intense concentration, and is inscribed by him with the words “Truth is God/MK Gandhi/4.12.’31’.
Auctioneers Sotheby’s, who have their headquarter in New York, in the portrait's description said that Gandhi was staying at Kingsley Hall at London’s East End during the visit, at the invitation of one of its founders, Muriel Lester, who had previously stayed in Gandhi’s ashram in India.
The portrait, which was inscribed by Gandhi, the day before he left Kingsley Hall, was given to a local resident who was closely associated with the place throughout her life. It has remained in her family ever since, it added.
