Important Notice

"Everything starts from silence. The silence of the brush. The silence of the canvas... The painter starts by absorbing all these silences." - V S GAITONDE

The present lot is a rare figurative portrait from a period when V S Gaitonde was almost exclusively painting large "non- objective" canvases in a vertical format. In the late 1950s, the artist broke away from all forms of figuration and embarked on a journey "that would... "Everything starts from silence. The silence of the brush. The silence of the canvas... The painter starts by absorbing all these silences." - V S GAITONDE

The present lot is a rare figurative portrait from a period when V S Gaitonde was almost exclusively painting large "non- objective" canvases in a vertical format. In the late 1950s, the artist broke away from all forms of figuration and embarked on a journey "that would take him from form to formlessness, from essaying an outward reality to conducting a deep search within." (Meera Menezes, Vasudeo Santu Gaitonde: Sonata of Solitude, Mumbai: Bodhana Arts and Research Foundation, 2016, p. 98) Depicting an introspective subject, much like the artist himself, this sketch is a reminder that Gaitonde "start[ed] his career romancing the line. His impeccable draughtsmanship is reflected in some of his portraits and early drawings" - a style that he very rarely, but with great mastery, returned to in later years. (Menezes, p. 26)

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