Osian's Auction Catalogue Indian Modern Contemporary Fine Arts | October 2018

Provenance Formerly in the Collection of artist and art patron Bal Chhabda. Thereafter Property of a Mumbai-based Gentleman since 1992. V. S. Gaitonde b. 1924 – d. 10 August 2001 Untitled Oil on canvas, 1962 40.2 x 23.9 in (102.0 x 60.8 cm) S/d in English and Devanagari ‘Gaitonde 62’ on verso ` 30,000,000 – 45,000,000 $ 416,670 – 625,000 39 “Each painting is unified by a single colour. The colour glows; it becomes transparent; it clots. It is this play of pigment, as it is absorbed physically into the canvas, that directs the eye. Text is structure. How he achieves this texture is the secret of the Gaitonde style. The rest is simple.” Pria Karunakar rpt in Lalit Kala Contemporary Journal No.19 & 20, April 1975; p.15 “Gaitonde’s explorations regarding the luminosities and densities of colour, could best be clarified if one tries to imagine the formation of puddles of water on a marble floor, hand in hand with their consequent drying process. Random shapes emerge, only to disappear and re-emerge. These uncertainties are played with, each moment demanding a stillness. Soon one feels that randomness has been given sufficient freedom, and is about to return the compliment, revealing herself through some recognisable form.” Neville Tuli, 1995 “The whole composition is more or less one colour in which the gentle gradations form a liquid matrix in which small and more solid outcrops of form appear to float. The style itself is reticent saying or suggesting only the least that needs to be stated. The colours too are limited and quiet and often consist of hues of the same colour. The whole painting has a certain expansiveness because the composition is open and can be thought of as part of a larger reality. There is a certain sense of mystery in these paintings, they affect the feelings of the spectator.” Jaya Appasamy rpt. in Lalit Kala Contemporary Journal No. 19 & 20 , April-September 1975;p6 A rare vertical 1962 V.S. Gaitonde painting formerly from the Bal Chhabda Collection These two sketches (including the Portrait of the Collector) were presented by Bal Chabbda to the Collector when he purchased the V.S. Gaitonde painting in 1992 Detailed Artist Biography osianama.com/artists/ v-s-gaitonde