Important Notice

An accident in the mid-1980s caused Gaitonde to take a hiatus from painting on canvas. He turned to smaller format works on paper, as seen in the present lot. "For Gaitonde, painting was... a deep inner investigation. Though he might have forsaken the paint and brush during this decade, he did not cease drawing." (Meera Menezes, Vasudeo Santu Gaitonde: Sonata of Solitude, New Delhi: Bodhana Arts and Research Foundation, 2016, p. 187) He... An accident in the mid-1980s caused Gaitonde to take a hiatus from painting on canvas. He turned to smaller format works on paper, as seen in the present lot. "For Gaitonde, painting was... a deep inner investigation. Though he might have forsaken the paint and brush during this decade, he did not cease drawing." (Meera Menezes, Vasudeo Santu Gaitonde: Sonata of Solitude, New Delhi: Bodhana Arts and Research Foundation, 2016, p. 187) He used this medium to explore the visual possibilities of form and calligraphy, which stemmed from his interest in Zen philosophy.

"His ink drawings from 1985-87... form an important part of his overall oeuvre and consist of nonmimetic calligraphic and hieroglyphic markings made with spontaneous gestures and rhythmic movements. The draftsman of old returns in these works." (Sandhini Poddar, V S Gaitonde: Painting as Process, Painting as Life, New York: The Solomon R Guggenheim Museum, 2014, p. 31) Gaitonde's calligraphic paintings from the 1980s seem to draw from characters of the Indus Valley or Harappan script, as well as other forms of cave markings, which remain undeciphered. The present lot further tests the possibilities of form through technique. The deliberately burned edges of the paper offer the possibility of associating it with parchments harking to an ancient past. Through this, Gaitonde masterfully retains the enigmatic nature of his oeuvre.

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