Vasudeo S. Gaitonde (1924-2001)

There are very minute spots of foxing in the unpainted areas of the paper, consistent with age. This work is mounted and framed behind glass, and is in good condition, as viewed.
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Vasudeo S. Gaitonde began his artistic career as a figurative artist, though by the 1950s he began to explore principles of abstraction in his canvases, partially through his interest in Paul Klee’s use of line and color. He painted his last fully representational work, The Bird and an Egg, in 1957, after which his canvases became largely non-referential and untitled. However, he never considered himself an abstract artist, claiming that “there is no such thing as abstract art.” He preferred to term his works ‘non-objective,’ and his ideas and paintings reflect a sustained engagement with Zen Buddhism. As this ink on paper drawing is from early in Gaitonde’s career, there remain traces of representation in this otherwise geometric work -- for example, the quasi-figural curved lines and cross. By the 1960s, these referents disappear altogether from his canvases, especially after a pivotal trip to New York in 1964 through the Rockefeller Fellowship. The forms in his serigraphs (lot 5) reveal Gaitonde’s abiding interest in calligraphy and hieroglyphs along with Klee’s playful line. These early works from Gaitonde are the foundation for his later paintings that explore concepts of mysticism, runes, sacred symbols, light, texture and universality.