Lot 77

Gaitonde was experimenting with several different forms of painting in the 1950's. The beginning of the decade saw him dabble with figures and representative images which soon gave way to semi-abstract renderings and motifs. By the second half of the decade, representation has been completely replaced with formal elements where the "visual entity is complete by itself; an organic fact." (Dnyaneshwar Nadkarni, Gaitonde, New Delhi, 1983, p. 3.) His experimentations with color, and application of various pigments to create a sense of light on the canvas took a central role at this time.

VASUEDO S. GAITONDE (India 1924-2001)

Untitled

Details

VASUEDO S. GAITONDE (India 1924-2001)
Untitled
signed and dated in Devanagiri (lower right)
oil on canvas
20 1/8 x 24 in. (51 x 61 cm)

Lot Essay

While Gaitonde steered away from terming his work 'abstract', Nadkarni describes a phase in his work in the mid-fifties where indeed Abstraction was an appropriate term. "Geometrically rigid in composition, these paintings sport a style of flat, monochromatic, application of paint which was quite in vogue in the early fifties... despite the architectural quality of these abstractions and the intelligent deployment of light, in Gaitonde's case it was a totally indigenous expression. (ibid, p. 5.)

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