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Lot Essay
The subject of my paintings is texture and colour – nothing more. It is colour in harmony, as in music or melody. Just as in music when you strike one note, and another note grows from it to make it worthwhile, so also with colour. One colour gives rise to another which gives rise to a third and so it goes on and on. And in their juxtaposition each colour becomes more meaningful. Today, after devoting my entire life to painting, my canvases are a celebration of how colour behaves by itself.
- V.S. Gaitonde, 1984
Vasudeo Santu Gaitonde’s artistic career is characterised by an unquenchable yearning for experimentation and an almost reverential introspection. Gaitonde embraced and thrived upon an ephemeral sense of ‘nothingness’, a contemplation that would inform, inspire and define his art as an outward expression of an individual’s inner silence. As the artist noted, “I am first and foremost an individual. I cannot subscribe to any collective thinking and I will not acknowledge any thought that does not appeal to my reason. Emotions [are] intrinsically individual in their impact and revelation. And what I seek to portray, being true to myself remains personal. I can only hope for a certain understanding by others. That is the reason I don't caption my paintings and why a single colour dominates my compositions” (Artist statement, P. Pundir, ‘An Untitled Canvas’, The Indian Express, 5 January 2014).
Gaitonde is widely considered to be India’s most significant abstract painter, and his iconic meditative canvases embody the avant-garde spirit of Indian modernism. In many ways, Gaitonde trod a different path than his friends and contemporaries. He graduated from the Sir J.J. School of Art in Bombay in 1948, shortly after Indian independence, and associated himself with the seminal modernist collective, the Progressive Artists’ Group (PAG), shortly after. However, Gaitonde soon adopted an entirely different attitude towards painting than most other artists associated with the PAG.
First, he was a far less prolific painter, completing only five or six canvases a year. This was largely because, for Gaitonde, each painting was all-consuming from conception to the completion. The physical act of painting his canvases was meticulous, complex and precise, yet it was the formulation of the concept, the incubation and propagation of the painting as an idea in his own consciousness, that absorbed much of his attention and time. As Gaitonde noted, "A painting always exists within you, even before you actually start to paint. You just have to make yourself the perfect machine to express what is already there" (Artist statement, D. Nadkarni, Gaitonde, New Delhi, 1983, unpaginated). Even at a young age, Gaitonde was as much a philosopher as an artist, and it was this sensibility that made his paintings so unique.
Second, with the exception of a short period in the early 1950s, Gaitonde abandoned figuration, instead committing to the revolutionary path of what he termed ‘non-objective art’. As the critic Holland Cotter described it, “He learned to use color as an independent expressive element and to break representational forms down to their abstract core. In doing so, he revealed an important historical truth: Indian painting had always been, fundamentally, about abstraction” (H. Cotter, ‘An Indian Modernist with a Global Gaze’ The New York Times, 1 January 2015). This is one of the reasons that Gaitonde’s paintings do not have titles, as any attempt to attribute or describe them would corrupt the pure abstraction of his art.
The present lot was executed in 1971, a few years after Gaitonde returned to India from a stay in New York funded by a J.D. Rockefeller III Fund Travelling Fellowship. This trip marked a fundamental change in his oeuvre, allowing Gaitonde access to see in person the work of the Abstract Expressionists and in particular, those of the colour field master Mark Rothko. Hitherto, Gaitonde’s experience of such works was limited to reproductions, but in New York, he actually visited Rothko’s studio along with fellow artist, Krishen Khanna. This visit had an immediate and lasting effect on Gaitonde. The methodology, sensibility and experiential impact of Rothko’s paintings was more influential on the young artist than their formal aesthetics. Gaitonde increasingly adopted some of the techniques he learnt about in his own practice, notably the gradual building up of the paint layer with a combination of roller and palette knife. The effects of this sensitivity are clear in works like the present lot, as they create an atmosphere of almost unbearable silence akin to Rothko’s iconic ‘chapel paintings’ in Houston.
A formidable example of Gaitonde’s fully mature idiom, here the artist uses a palette of orange, burnt umber, gold and rust, to create an expansive field of shimmering colour stretching out before the viewer. A darker horizontal band at the centre, anchored by glowing black orbs at each end, perhaps suggests a horizon, dividing the surface neatly in two. Spreading out from the radiant penumbrae of these orbs, a subtle band of vermillion edges the painting. Drawing from classical Indian painting traditions, this refined graduation of colour by the artist emphasizes the artifice of the painted surface and the masterful control of light, colour and texture the artist.
It is no wonder that the artist’s works from this period of Gaitonde’s oeuvre are heralded as his most coveted. His creative process during the period was sophisticated, refined and all-consuming intellectually, spiritually and physically. The critic Roy Craven astutely describes the artist’s meticulous process, noting, “'Gai' [Gaitonde] knows what he wants and works with determination to achieve it. His paintings reflect this confidence in that their structure and coloration look just right [...] The mark of a true artist is control, the ability to state concisely that which he wishes, but in doing so, not lose the spark of life which brought about the work’s creation. Gai's works have that spark as well as the control, but they also live a life of their own which reaches out and involves the spectator” (R. Craven, 'A Short Report on Contemporary Painting in India', Art Journal, Vol. 24, No. 3, 1965, p. 229). This process illuminates Gaitonde’s deep interest in the methodology of painting itself. The artist's unique combination of control, colour and expression imbues this canvas with a vitality and sublimation that transcends any single style or technique in abstract painting.
If silence and reflection are cornerstones of Gaitonde’s practice, then this canvas is an understated exemplar. Much like Rothko’s most renowned works, this painting demands constant viewing and reviewing, underlining that Gaitonde’s work is experiential rather than representational. Paintings like this one inspire mindfulness and self-reflection in what feels like a private and unique experience for each viewer. Writing about the experience of viewing Gaitonde’s paintings, the critic Dnyaneshwar Nadkarni states, “there is a sense of atmosphere, there is an approximation of music and, what is most important, there is a throbbing mystery about the very process of viewing and responding as if one is sucked into some still centre of hitherto unknown experience” (D. Nadkarni, Gaitonde, New Delhi, 1983, unpaginated).
- V.S. Gaitonde, 1984
Vasudeo Santu Gaitonde’s artistic career is characterised by an unquenchable yearning for experimentation and an almost reverential introspection. Gaitonde embraced and thrived upon an ephemeral sense of ‘nothingness’, a contemplation that would inform, inspire and define his art as an outward expression of an individual’s inner silence. As the artist noted, “I am first and foremost an individual. I cannot subscribe to any collective thinking and I will not acknowledge any thought that does not appeal to my reason. Emotions [are] intrinsically individual in their impact and revelation. And what I seek to portray, being true to myself remains personal. I can only hope for a certain understanding by others. That is the reason I don't caption my paintings and why a single colour dominates my compositions” (Artist statement, P. Pundir, ‘An Untitled Canvas’, The Indian Express, 5 January 2014).
Gaitonde is widely considered to be India’s most significant abstract painter, and his iconic meditative canvases embody the avant-garde spirit of Indian modernism. In many ways, Gaitonde trod a different path than his friends and contemporaries. He graduated from the Sir J.J. School of Art in Bombay in 1948, shortly after Indian independence, and associated himself with the seminal modernist collective, the Progressive Artists’ Group (PAG), shortly after. However, Gaitonde soon adopted an entirely different attitude towards painting than most other artists associated with the PAG.
First, he was a far less prolific painter, completing only five or six canvases a year. This was largely because, for Gaitonde, each painting was all-consuming from conception to the completion. The physical act of painting his canvases was meticulous, complex and precise, yet it was the formulation of the concept, the incubation and propagation of the painting as an idea in his own consciousness, that absorbed much of his attention and time. As Gaitonde noted, "A painting always exists within you, even before you actually start to paint. You just have to make yourself the perfect machine to express what is already there" (Artist statement, D. Nadkarni, Gaitonde, New Delhi, 1983, unpaginated). Even at a young age, Gaitonde was as much a philosopher as an artist, and it was this sensibility that made his paintings so unique.
Second, with the exception of a short period in the early 1950s, Gaitonde abandoned figuration, instead committing to the revolutionary path of what he termed ‘non-objective art’. As the critic Holland Cotter described it, “He learned to use color as an independent expressive element and to break representational forms down to their abstract core. In doing so, he revealed an important historical truth: Indian painting had always been, fundamentally, about abstraction” (H. Cotter, ‘An Indian Modernist with a Global Gaze’ The New York Times, 1 January 2015). This is one of the reasons that Gaitonde’s paintings do not have titles, as any attempt to attribute or describe them would corrupt the pure abstraction of his art.
The present lot was executed in 1971, a few years after Gaitonde returned to India from a stay in New York funded by a J.D. Rockefeller III Fund Travelling Fellowship. This trip marked a fundamental change in his oeuvre, allowing Gaitonde access to see in person the work of the Abstract Expressionists and in particular, those of the colour field master Mark Rothko. Hitherto, Gaitonde’s experience of such works was limited to reproductions, but in New York, he actually visited Rothko’s studio along with fellow artist, Krishen Khanna. This visit had an immediate and lasting effect on Gaitonde. The methodology, sensibility and experiential impact of Rothko’s paintings was more influential on the young artist than their formal aesthetics. Gaitonde increasingly adopted some of the techniques he learnt about in his own practice, notably the gradual building up of the paint layer with a combination of roller and palette knife. The effects of this sensitivity are clear in works like the present lot, as they create an atmosphere of almost unbearable silence akin to Rothko’s iconic ‘chapel paintings’ in Houston.
A formidable example of Gaitonde’s fully mature idiom, here the artist uses a palette of orange, burnt umber, gold and rust, to create an expansive field of shimmering colour stretching out before the viewer. A darker horizontal band at the centre, anchored by glowing black orbs at each end, perhaps suggests a horizon, dividing the surface neatly in two. Spreading out from the radiant penumbrae of these orbs, a subtle band of vermillion edges the painting. Drawing from classical Indian painting traditions, this refined graduation of colour by the artist emphasizes the artifice of the painted surface and the masterful control of light, colour and texture the artist.
It is no wonder that the artist’s works from this period of Gaitonde’s oeuvre are heralded as his most coveted. His creative process during the period was sophisticated, refined and all-consuming intellectually, spiritually and physically. The critic Roy Craven astutely describes the artist’s meticulous process, noting, “'Gai' [Gaitonde] knows what he wants and works with determination to achieve it. His paintings reflect this confidence in that their structure and coloration look just right [...] The mark of a true artist is control, the ability to state concisely that which he wishes, but in doing so, not lose the spark of life which brought about the work’s creation. Gai's works have that spark as well as the control, but they also live a life of their own which reaches out and involves the spectator” (R. Craven, 'A Short Report on Contemporary Painting in India', Art Journal, Vol. 24, No. 3, 1965, p. 229). This process illuminates Gaitonde’s deep interest in the methodology of painting itself. The artist's unique combination of control, colour and expression imbues this canvas with a vitality and sublimation that transcends any single style or technique in abstract painting.
If silence and reflection are cornerstones of Gaitonde’s practice, then this canvas is an understated exemplar. Much like Rothko’s most renowned works, this painting demands constant viewing and reviewing, underlining that Gaitonde’s work is experiential rather than representational. Paintings like this one inspire mindfulness and self-reflection in what feels like a private and unique experience for each viewer. Writing about the experience of viewing Gaitonde’s paintings, the critic Dnyaneshwar Nadkarni states, “there is a sense of atmosphere, there is an approximation of music and, what is most important, there is a throbbing mystery about the very process of viewing and responding as if one is sucked into some still centre of hitherto unknown experience” (D. Nadkarni, Gaitonde, New Delhi, 1983, unpaginated).