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Lot 107

 

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V S Gaitonde's introspective nature led him on a path that was relatively uncharted in the realm of Indian Modernism in the period following Independence. By 1965, when the present lot was painted, Gaitonde had synthesised influences from Zen philosophy of the Far East and Abstract Expressionism from the West to create 'non-objective' art. The mid-1960s was a particularly significant period when he created works that ranged from ephemeral,... V S Gaitonde's introspective nature led him on a path that was relatively uncharted in the realm of Indian Modernism in the period following Independence. By 1965, when the present lot was painted, Gaitonde had synthesised influences from Zen philosophy of the Far East and Abstract Expressionism from the West to create 'non-objective' art. The mid-1960s was a particularly significant period when he created works that ranged from ephemeral, light-filled canvasses such as the present lot, to darker monochromatic works. Working out of a studio at the Bhulabhai Memorial Institute in what was then Bombay, Gaitonde experimented with the layering of pigment and manipulation of light and texture to create a series of non-figurative works. "...Gaitonde was also working with painting itself. The creation of texture in an unconventional way, the use of thick lugubrious pigment, the evocation of light and, finally, the subtle balancing of the image on canvas as if it were undulating on water and gradually surfacing in the light..." (Dnyaneshwar Nadkarni, Gaitonde, New Delhi: Lalit Kala Akademi, 1983)

In 1964, Gaitonde travelled to the United States on a Rockefeller Foundation Fellowship, where he was exposed to the post-war art of America and Europe. The work of Abstract Expressionists such as Mark Rothko led to Gaitonde's progression towards a further "purity of expression" through which dimensions beyond the surface of a canvas are revealed through the interplay of space, colour and light. Gaitonde also drew from Chinese and Japanese calligraphy to create the bands of undecipherable objects or forms that punctuate the present lot. "A turning point in his life came after his encounter with Zen Buddhism through the book Zen in the Art of Archery. His engagement with Zen also gave him a deeper understanding of nature and his early forays into the realm of abstraction were evocative of both sea and landscape." (Meera Menezes, Vasudeo Santu Gaitonde: Sonata of Solitude, Mumbai: Bodhana Arts and Research Foundation, 2016, p. 27)

The present lot is composed of translucent washes of beige and white. On the horizon is a darker band that divides the canvas, and is occupied by a curious combination of calligraphic forms which recur in the lower half of the canvas. Building up layers of pigment with a roller and carefully removing any superfluous paint with a palette knife, Gaitonde is able to alternately conceal and reveal illumination on the surface of the piece. In paintings from this period, "...the medium is not separate from the so-called content...The canvas looks like an ocean; to carry the simile further, it is as if we are looking down on the mildly lapping waters of the sea near a pier and, in the half light, gazing at things surfacing or floating in the water. The motifs in these canvases literally surface in the pool of paint, and they convey a variety of associations." (Nadkarni, Gaitonde)

When Gaitonde graduated from the Sir J J School of Art in 1948, little would anyone have imagined that he would embark on a journey "that would take him from form to formlessness, from essaying an outward reality to conducting a deep search within." (Menezes, p. 98) From his modest beginnings in a chawl in the Girgaum area of Mumbai, Gaitonde went on to achieve great acclaim as a formidable artist in India and internationally. The New York Times art critic Holland Cotter has referred to him as "a 20th-century Indian modernist who looked westward, eastward, homeward and inward to create an intensely personalized version of transculturalism, one that has given him mythic stature in his own country and pushed him to the top of the auction charts." (Holland Cotter, "An Indian Modernist With a Global Gaze," The New York Times, 1 January 2015, online)

Gaitonde's formless, lyrical work has appealed to collectors and intellectuals across the world. A similar work painted the same year as the present lot was acquired by Homi Bhabha and is in the TIFR collection in Mumbai.

REFLECTIONS ON NOTHINGNESS
MEERA GODBOLE-KRISHNAMURTHY

This subtle and sublime 1965 painting is a fine example of Gaitonde's "non-objective" art. Neither abstract nor figurative, this vertical canvas makes the viewer an active participant in the life of the painting. Neither water nor sky, neither structure nor figure, neither reality nor reflection, the present lot evokes, like other Gaitonde works, that which is absent.

Created from thinly applied pastel shades of paint that are as absent as they are present, this particular abstract landscape is anchored by hieroglyphs that seem to float on a scale-less expanse. "There have been paintings that appear like 'abstract landscapes' which are minimalist and very much like some ancient Japanese or Chinese paintings done with brushes of reeds." (Narendra Dengle, "Gaitonde: The Spirit of his Painting," Journal of Landscape Architecture, No. 44, New Delhi: LA, Journal of Landscape Architecture, June 2015, p. 99) Do the black ink markings hark back to ancient times, do they tell a story through a long-lost script, or are they the skeletons of a lost civilization? Alternatively, is this an ocean at dawn with boats and sails on the horizon? Are those moored fishing boats on a beach? There are many questions but answers remain elusive. That Gaitonde was deeply immersed in Zen philosophy and meditation is the only knowable reality on this canvas. 20th century American Abstract Expressionists such as Richard Kline were influenced by East Asian calligraphy and were experimenting with the genre in New York in the 1950s. There are certain resonances in such works and Gaitonde's more delicate explorations.

Like water which can hold memory, connoisseurs may find their own memories reflected in the painting. Try to pin them down and they dissipate into the mist and fog. Quite simply, "There is a certain mystery in these paintings. They affect the feelings of the spectator." (Jaya Appasamy, "The Paths of Abstraction," first published in Lalit Kala Contemporary, 1975, Critical Collective) Here, he combines the vastness of a Turner sky with the immensity of a Rothko canvas, and ties them together with the deliberate symbols of calligraphy. It is remarkable that in the same period in which he made this painting, he also made the deeply hued paintings which are the opposite of nothingness. There, it is the depth and richness of colour that mesmerises. Here it is the sheer nothingness of light and air that capture one's imagination. It is reflection without intention that defines the essence of meditation, and in this painting, Gaitonde attains union with the immensity of the universe through the perfect balance of being and nothingness.

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