SUMMER ONLINE AUCTION (13-14 JULY 2021)

SUMMER ONLINE AUCTION
13 ‒ 14 JULY 2021



CONTENTS

4 SALES AND ENQUIRIES
6 THE AUCTION CATALOGUE
150 FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
154 CONDITIONS FOR SALE
161 ABSENTEE/PROXY BID FORM
164 INDEX

Cover Back cover Inside front cover Inside back cover
Lot 46 Lot 35 Lot 60 Lot 88

OUR TEAM

DINESH VAZIRANI MINAL VAZIRANI PUNYA NAGPAL ABHA HOUSEGO ANU NANAVATI

CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER PRESIDENT SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT VICE PRESIDENT
AND CO‒FOUNDER AND CO‒FOUNDER INTERNATIONAL, LONDON INTERNATIONAL, NEW YORK

CLIENT RELATIONS

DHANASHREE SHAHEEN VIRANI AMIT KAPOOR ADITI PARAB AASHISH DUBEY DEEPIKA SHAH DARPANA CAPOOR
WAIKAR
ASSOCIATE VICE PRESIDENT ASSOCIATE VICE PRESIDENT MANAGER SENIOR MANAGER SENIOR MANAGER SENIOR MANAGER
ASSOCIATE VICE PRESIDENT CLIENT RELATIONS JEWELLERY CLIENT RELATIONS CLIENT RELATIONS
CLIENT RELATIONS JEWELLERY & COLLECTIBLES CLIENT RELATIONS

EDITORIAL AND DESIGN

JOE CYRIL FRANCISCA KADAM MAIA JASUBHOY ALKA SAMANT JATIN LAD EESHA PATKAR OISHANI MITRA
MANAGER
BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT DIGITAL MARKETING MANAGER VICE PRESIDENT DESIGN SENIOR DESIGNER EDITORIAL MANAGER EDITORIAL MANAGER

CLIENT RELATIONS, LONDON

OPERATIONS AND FINANCE

MANU CHANDRA VINAY BHATE YASH GADHIYA NARSINGRAO

HEAD OF OPERATIONS VICE PRESIDENT HEAD OF TECHNOLOGY LEAD SOFTWARE ENGINEER
FINANCE AND PRODUCT TECHNOLOGY

ANJALI GHATGE CHANDRA POOJARI GAURAV YADAV ABHINAV JHA

MANAGER SENIOR MANAGER MANAGER EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT
FINANCE LOGISTICS LOGISTICS COORDINATOR ‒ PARTNER
GALLERY PROGRAM

4

All bidding will take place at saffronart.com. All lots are published in the printed catalogue and e-catalogue
and may also be viewed on the website.

AUCTION DATES

Start: Tuesday, 13 July 2021, 10.30 pm Indian Standard Time
(12 pm US Eastern Time and 5 pm UK Time on 13 July 2021)

Close: Wednesday, 14 July 2021, 8 pm Indian Standard Time onwards
(9.30 am US Eastern Time and 2.30 pm UK Time on 14 July 2021)

Please note that bidding closes at different times according to Lot Groups. These times have been listed in the
Bid Closing Schedule.

Select lots may be viewed in London, New Delhi and Mumbai by appointment. This auction is preceded by
the Summer Live Auction on 13 July 2021 in Mumbai featuring lots 1‒30.

VIEWINGS BY APPOINTMENT ONLY

LONDON NEW DELHI MUMBAI
23 June – 14 July 2021
23 June – 14 July 2021 23 June – 14 July 2021 11 am – 3 pm, Monday to Friday
11 am – 5 pm, Monday to Friday 11 am – 3 pm, Monday to Friday
(Weekends by appointment) VENUE
Industry Manor, 3rd Floor,
VENUE VENUE Appasaheb Marathe Marg
Prabhadevi, Mumbai 400025
73 New Bond Street The Oberoi
1st Floor Dr. Zakir Hussain Marg
London, W1S 1RS New Delhi 110003

SALES TEAM AND AUCTION ENQUIRIES

Mumbai Contact: Punya Nagpal, Dhanashree Waikar, Shaheen Virani,
Aashish Dubey, Deepika Shah or Aditi Parab
New Delhi Email: [email protected] | Contact: +91 22 68554100
USA Contact: Amit Kapoor or Darpana Capoor | Email: [email protected]
UK Contact: +91 11 24369415
Contact: Anu Nanavati | Email: [email protected] | Tel: +1 212 627 5006
Contact: Abha Housego or Maia Jasubhoy | Email: [email protected] | Tel: +44 20 7409 7974

ADDRESSES

India Mumbai: Industry Manor, 3rd Floor, Appasaheb Marathe Marg, Prabhadevi, Mumbai 400025
New Delhi: The Oberoi, Dr. Zakir Hussain Marg, New Delhi 110003

USA The Fuller Building, 595 Madison Avenue, Suite 1207, New York, NY 10022
UK 73 New Bond Street, 1st Floor, London, W1S 1RS

5



Lots 31–44

Closing Time: Wednesday, 14 July 2021
8 pm (IST)

10.30 am (US Eastern Time)

aa 31

b F N SOUZA (1924‒2002)
8
a) Untitled
Signed and dated ‘Souza/1946’ (lower right)
1946
Pencil on paper pasted on paper
12.25 x 8 in (31.4 x 20.5 cm)

PROVENANCE
Shelley Souza Collection
Christie’s, New York, 18 March 2014, lot 19 f)
Private Collection, New Delhi

b) Untitled
Signed and dated ‘Souza/1946’ (centre left)
1946
Pencil on paper pasted on paper
12.25 x 7.75 in (30.8 x 20 cm)

PROVENANCE
Estate of F N Souza
Acquired from Souza in 40s, Delhi, 2018
Private Collection, New Delhi

$ 7,045 ‒ 9,860
Rs 5,00,000 ‒ 7,00,000

(Set of two)

EXHIBITED
Souza In The 40’s, London: Grosvenor Gallery, 14
December 2018 ‒ 30 January 2019; Panaji: Sunaparanta,
Goa Centre for the Arts, 17 December 2018 ‒ 5 March
2019; New Delhi: Saffronart, 19 December 2018 ‒ 18
January 2019

PUBLISHED
Souza In The 40’s, Mumbai: Saffronart, 2018 (illustrated)

32

F N SOUZA (1924‒2002)

Untitled

Signed and dated ‘Souza 78’ (upper right)
1978
Chemical alterations on magazine paper
10.75 x 8.25 in (27.3 x 20.8 cm)

$ 4,230 ‒ 7,045
Rs 3,00,000 ‒ 5,00,000

PROVENANCE
Formerly from the Estate of F N Souza
Christie’s, New York, 12 September 2018, lot 230 b)

9

33 The present lot is a rare, early work by Krishen Khanna from
a brief but artistically rich phase of his career, before he
KRISHEN KHANNA (b.1925) began painting his trademark bandwalla series. In early 1953,
the artist moved to Madras (now Chennai) with his wife
Autumn Girl and daughter, while working for Grindlays Bank. The slow
tempo of the society and the calming rhythm of his day job
Inscribed and dated ‘AUTUMN GIRL 1959/ contributed to a period of “personal contentment and greater
BY KRISHEN KHANNA’ (on the reverse) lyricism than Krishen had ever expressed before in painting,”
1959 according to Gayatri Sinha. “Apart from a series of paintings
Oil on canvas on musicians, Krishen also did a number of figurative works
34.5 x 19.5 in (87.6 x 49.5 cm) with women as the subject. With their rich skin tones and
sensuous forms, they comprise the only body of female nude
$ 18,000 ‒ 22,000 figures in Krishen’s oeuvre...Krishen reacted to the colours of
Rs 12,78,000 ‒ 15,62,000 Madras, the strong nearly white light, the dark brown‒bodied
figures, especially of migrant labour that was pouring into the
PROVENANCE city, the frequent sight of hawkers selling fruit.” (Gayatri Sinha,
Kumar Gallery, New Delhi Krishen Khanna: A Critical Biography, New Delhi: Vadehra
Private Collection, USA Art Gallery, 2001, p. 48) The present lot, depicting a young
Saffronart, 28‒29 March 2012, lot 5 woman with bare twigs and branches bunched in her hands,
Private Collection, UAE is likely one such painting from this period.

Krishen Khanna
© Jyoti Bhatt

11

B Prabha
Image courtesy of Nayana Sarmalkar

During the mid‒1960s onwards, B Prabha was known
to have painted near‒abstracted landscapes, as seen in
this painting from 1966. Depicting a cluster of barren
wintry trees against a backdrop of rustic houses within
a sombre, earthy colour palette, the present lot evokes
a contemplative snapshot of a melancholic village
scene—a rare departure from her trademark figurative
works of rural/working women.

34

B PRABHA (1933‒2001)

Untitled

Signed and dated ‘b.prabha/ 1966’ (lower centre)
1966
Oil on canvas
29.75 x 53.25 in (75.3 x 135.2 cm)

$ 16,905 ‒ 25,355
Rs 12,00,000 ‒ 18,00,000

PROVENANCE
Private Collection, Mumbai

13

Jehangir Sabavala
Image courtesy of Shirin Sabavala

“Mystery and beauty are essential to me... I love mist and rain,
sunshine through great banks of clouds—the power and poetry
of an incredibly beautiful world—God‒made but enriched by
man.”  JEHANGIR SABAVALA

15



The universal and timeless art of Jehangir Sabavala
has earned him a distinguished place in modern
Indian art, and among peers, critics and collectors
alike. The art critic S V Vasudev once said, “There
are a few artists who in the course of a generation
of the contemporary movement in India, have
made an indelible impression on the mind and
have also revealed in their progress the nature
of the artistic quest... Today Jehangir Sabavala’s
paintings reveal the refinement of a poetic mind,
the abstract sign posts of a philosophical search for
values, the painterly technique realized after years
of experience, and, above all, the singular note
that keeps alive the wonder in creation.” (Pria Devi,
Jehangir Sabavala, New Delhi: Lalit Kala Akademi,
1984)

From his first solo show in 1951 at the Taj Mahal
Hotel in then Bombay to the paintings he made
right up till the end of his artistic journey, Sabavala’s
work continued to evolve and mature through the
decades. Over a career of more than sixty years,
which he likened to a pilgrimage, Sabavala pushed
forward in his quest to find lyricism and serenity
in a seemingly irredeemable world. “Painting
for me grows more personalised, more difficult.
Movements, styles, the topical moments, all
lose out to the attempt to reach deeper levels of
interpretation. Horizons widen and recede, and I
see myself as a pilgrim, moving towards unknown
vistas.” (Artist quoted in Ranjit Hoskote, The
Crucible of Painting: The Art of Jehangir Sabavala,
Mumbai: Eminence Designs Pvt. Ltd., 2005, p. 216)

Working often with oils, Sabavala preferred a
quiet palette, with veiled light and middle‒tones
appealing to him more than pure colours and loud
imagery, as seen in the present lot. As an artist
practicing in the modernist style with a deeply
ingrained classical influence, Sabavala created
almost geometric wedges out of paint, which he
put together to form vast, tranquil scenes. These
‘receding planes’ give each canvas an illusory sense
of depth, illustrating Sabavala’s mastery over light,
colour, and texture.

17

Untitled, 1992 The Green Cape, 1974
Saffronart, Mumbai, 8 December 2020, lot 9 Saffronart, Mumbai, 24 February 2016, lot 18
Sold for Rs 4.2 crores ($575,342) Sold for Rs 3.84 crores ($564,706)

18

PROPERTY OF A LADY, MUMBAI The present lot from 1991 continues Sabavala’s
preoccupation with painting solitary landscapes
35 which offer a space for contemplation. His work
is aesthetically sublime, as well as intrinsically laced
JEHANGIR SABAVALA (1922‒2011) with philosophical thought. “Sabavala’s paintings
have preserved an introspective, melancholy lyricism,
Untitled as well as the ache of the Sublime. These paintings
are tinted with nostalgia, as for moments once
Signed and dated ‘Sabavala ‘91’ (lower left) possessed, for homelands once known and now
1991 forever beyond the horizon of what can be known.”
Oil on canvas (Ranjit Hoskote, Pilgrim, Exile, Sorcerer: The Painterly
23.5 x 59.75 in (59.7 x 151.8 cm) Evolution of Jehangir Sabavala, Mumbai: Eminence
Designs Pvt. Ltd., 1998, p. 99)
$ 352,115 ‒ 492,960
Rs 2,50,00,000 ‒ 3,50,00,000

PROVENANCE
Acquired directly from the artist

19

36

RAM KUMAR (1924‒2018)

Untitled
Signed and dated ‘Ram Kumar 83‒87’ (on the reverse)
1983 ‒ 1987
Oil on canvas
54 x 33 in (137.2 x 83.8 cm)
$ 60,000 ‒ 80,000
Rs 42,60,000 ‒ 56,80,000

PROVENANCE
From a Private Middle Eastern Collection
Saffronart, 25‒26 March 2013, lot 11

Initially expressing himself through a figurative
idiom and then a largely architectonic one, Ram
Kumar only turned to complete abstraction in
the late 1960s. Over the next five decades, these
abstract works came to represent the artist’s
journey towards what he termed the ‘language
of painting.’ Although devoid of human and
architectural forms, paintings like the present lot
are firmly rooted in Kumar’s experiences of nature.

In the present lot, the artist finds the perfect
middle ground between the representational
landscape and the abstracted one through the
layered application of earth tones on canvas.
Kumar’s landscapes evoke both memories and
reflection, without specifying the places he paints.
“The browns, greys and blues, the occasional
green or orange, are areas of positive sensation.
They are also premises of suggestion — indicative
of landforms, stretches of water and sky, passage
of clouds, valley, ranges of hills, qualities of light,
bonded together in a palpable mood.” (Richard
Bartholomew quoted in Gagan Gill ed., Ram
Kumar: A Journey Within, New Delhi: Vadehra Art
Gallery, 1996, p. 154)

20

21

37

RAM KUMAR (1924‒2018)

Untitled

Signed and dated ‘Ram Kumar 1975’ (on the reverse)
1975
Acrylic on paper pasted on mount board
23.25 x 36 in (59 x 91.5 cm)

$ 8,455 ‒ 11,270
Rs 6,00,000 ‒ 8,00,000

PROVENANCE
Acquired directly from the artist
An Important Private Collection, New Delhi

38

SAKTI BURMAN (b.1935)

Untitled
Signed ‘SAKTi BURMAN’ (lower right)
Mixed media on paper
19 x 22.75 in (48 x 58 cm)
$ 2,500 ‒ 3,500
Rs 1,77,500 ‒ 2,48,500
PROVENANCE
Private Collection, USA

23

39

K LAXMA GOUD (b.1940)

Untitled
Signed and dated in Telugu (lower right)
1995
Reverse painting on acrylic sheet pasted on paper
13.75 x 11.75 in (35 x 30 cm)
$ 7,750 ‒ 9,155
Rs 5,50,000 ‒ 6,50,000

PROVENANCE
Private Collection, Mumbai

24

40

LALU PRASAD SHAW (b.1937)

Untitled

Signed and dated in Bengali (lower left)
2002
Tempera on paper
19 x 14.5 in (48 x 36.8 cm)

$ 7,045 ‒ 9,860
Rs 5,00,000 ‒ 7,00,000

PROVENANCE
Gallery Sanskriti, Kolkata

25

Badri Narayan
Wikimedia Commons

41

BADRI NARAYAN (1929‒2013)

Untitled

Initialled in Devnagari (lower right)
Watercolour, pen and ink on paper pasted on
plywood
20.75 x 28.75 in (53 x 73.1 cm)

$ 11,270 ‒ 14,085
Rs 8,00,000 ‒ 10,00,000

PROVENANCE
Private Collection, Mumbai

27



PROPERTY FROM AN IMPORTANT PRIVATE COLLECTION, CHENNAI

42

NANDALAL BOSE (1882‒1966)

Untitled

Signed and dated in Bengali (lower left)
Ink on postcard
5.5 x 3.5 in (14 x 8.9 cm)

$ 3,525 ‒ 4,930
Rs 2,50,000 ‒ 3,50,000

NON‒EXPORTABLE NATIONAL ART TREASURE

PROVENANCE
Galerie 88, Kolkata
Sakshi Gallery, Mumbai
Private Collection, Mumbai
Acquired from the above

29

Nandalal Bose
Image courtesy of Delhi Art Gallery
30

PROPERTY FROM AN IMPORTANT PRIVATE COLLECTION, CHENNAI

43

NANDALAL BOSE (1882‒1966)

Untitled

Signed and dated in Bengali (lower left)
Ink on postcard
5.5 x 3.5 in (14 x 8.9 cm)

$ 3,525 ‒ 4,930
Rs 2,50,000 ‒ 3,50,000

NON‒EXPORTABLE NATIONAL ART TREASURE

PROVENANCE
Galerie 88, Kolkata
Sakshi Gallery, Mumbai
Private Collection, Mumbai
Acquired from the above

31

Somnath Hore 44
© Jyoti Bhatt
SOMNATH HORE (1921‒2006)
32
a) Untitled
Initialled and dated ‘S/ 1 5 80’ (upper right)
1980
Ink on paper
7 x 10.5 in (18 x 26.5 cm)

b) Untitled
Initialled and dated ‘S 17. 3. 84’ (lower left)
1984
Pen on paper
9.75 x 13.75 in (24.5 x 35 cm)

c) Untitled
Dated and initialled ‘2/ 5/ 80/ S’ (lower right)
1980
Ink on paper
7 x 10.5 in (17.8 x 26.5 cm)

d) Untitled
Dated ‘18.9./ 69’ (lower right)
1969
Pen on paper
10 x 13.75 in (25.2 x 35.2 cm)

e) Untitled
Signed and dated in Bengali (lower right)
1976
Ink on paper
10.75 x 13.75 in (27 x 35.2 cm)

f) Untitled
Initialled and dated ‘S/ 4 7 86’ (lower right)
1986
Pen on paper
7 x 10.5 in (17.6 x 26.5 cm)

g) Untitled
Initialled and dated ‘S/ 19.5.96’ (lower right)
1996
Pen on paper
8.5 x 10.5 in (21.6 x 26.7 cm)

$ 11,270 ‒ 14,085
Rs 8,00,000 ‒ 10,00,000

(Set of seven)

PROVENANCE
Gallery Espace, New Delhi

EXHIBITED
Drawing 2014 | 7 Decades of Indian Drawing, New Delhi:
Gallery Espace, 10 ‒ 30 November 2014

a

b
e

c
f

dg

33



Lots 45–57

Closing Time: Wednesday, 14 July 2021
8.15 pm (IST)

10.45 am (US Eastern Time)

V S Gaitonde
Reproduced from a Progressive Artists' Group exhibition catalogue, 1949

36

ARTIST IN FOCUS

V S GAITONDE

V S Gaitonde has always stood apart from his contemporaries, whether in his personality
which demanded isolation, or in his aesthetic vision that was rooted in a deeply meditative
sensibility. Known for his precise, deliberate technique, Gaitonde dedicated his life and
art to discovering new ways of painting through constant experimentation. Although he
disliked categorising his work as abstract art — preferring the term “non‒objective” instead
— he is considered one of the foremost Abstract Expressionist painters in the canon of
modern Indian art. According to art historian Gayatri Sinha, “In the dogged fidelity to an
idea and its execution, Gaitonde’s standing in Indian art is unique, as is his contribution in
plotting the graph of one stream of Indian modernism.” (Quoted in Giridhar Khasnis, “The
Silent Maestro,” Deccan Herald, 2014, online)

“There is a kind of metamorphosis in every canvas,
and the metamorphosis never ends.”  V S GAITONDE

45

V S GAITONDE (1924‒2001)

Untitled
Signed in Devnagari and dated ‘85’ (lower right)
1985
Ink on paper
14.5 x 10.5 in (36.8 x 26.7 cm)
$ 25,000 ‒ 35,000
Rs 17,75,000 ‒ 24,85,000
PROVENANCE
Acquired directly from the artist
Private Collection, Germany
Saffronart, 11‒12 December 2013, lot 18

"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

38

39

The artist in his room at the Chelsea Hotel in New York, January 1965
©Bruce Frisch



PROPERTY FROM THE COLLECTION OF URMILA AND THE LATE GUNVANT MANGALDAS
46

V S GAITONDE (1924‒2001)

Untitled
Signed and dated in Devnagari (on the reverse)
1961
Oil on canvas
50 x 40 in (127 x 101.6 cm)
$ 2,112,680 ‒ 2,816,905
Rs 15,00,00,000 ‒ 20,00,00,000
PROVENANCE
Acquired directly from the artist
Property from the Collection of Urmila and the late Gunvant Mangaldas
Thence by descent

Gaitonde’s works hold universal appeal among art connoisseurs across the world today, making him one of the
most sought‒after artists in the global art market.

Untitled, 1961
Saffronart, Mumbai, 11 March 2021, lot 13

Sold for Rs 39.98 crores ($5,552,778), most expensive painting by the artist
sold in auction globally

Untitled, 1961
Saffronart, New Delhi, 21 September 2017, lot 13
Sold for Rs 19.99 crores ($3,173,016)

42

43

PROPERTY FROM THE COLLECTION OF
URMILA AND LATE GUNVANT MANGALDAS

Gunvant Mangaldas, circa 1950s Gunvant Mangaldas was one of the earliest collectors of modern
Indian art. The Ahmedabad‒based businessman and his wife,
Urmila, were patrons to important modernists, particularly those
from the Progressive Artists’ Group (PAG) and their associates,
and formed enduring friendships with many of them.

After studying Chemical Engineering at the University of Michigan,
where he first developed an interest in art, Gunvant Mangaldas
returned to Ahmedabad and began actively pursuing this passion.
This was during the early 1950s when the PAG artists and their
contemporaries were making their presence known in the wake
of India’s Independence, while discovering and establishing a
unique modern identity in Indian art. One of the key figures in
this movement was Bal Chhabda, a strong patron of the arts and
owner of the erstwhile Gallery 59, where he often showcased
works by these promising artists. A school friend of Gunvant
Mangaldas, Chhabda introduced the couple to this world and
thus began their life‒long journey of collecting art. It was through

Mr. and Mrs. Mangaldas with Natvar Bhavsar
44

Chhabda that the Mangaldases became acquainted
with Gaitonde and went on to acquire his paintings,
including the present lot and a bright red canvas
painted in 1958 that previously sold at Saffronart in
2019.

One of the few artists they befriended was Ram

Kumar, whom they met when visiting Chhabda and

his wife Jeet in Kashmir in 1965. Their friendship

continued, and on his rare visits to Ahmedabad,

he often spent time with them. Likewise, the

Mangaldases were also involved in a similar art

movement that had emerged in Ahmedabad

around this time, formed by artists Bhanwar Singh Mr. Mangaldas with BV Doshi and Husain

Panwar, Maansingh Chaara, Piraji Sagara, among

others. Calling themselves the ‘Progressive Painters of Ahmedabad’, they sought to establish an art presence in

their city. Gunvant Mangaldas was one of their earliest supporters, and generously opened his home to them to

hold their first few meetings.

In many respects, the Mangaldas’ home, Vihan—designed by various architects including the eminent B V Doshi,
one of India’s foremost architects and winner of the 2018 Pritzker Architecture Prize—was a welcome haven for
many artists and luminaries during their travels to Ahmedabad. Some of their first guests during its housewarming
included Chhabda, Gaitonde and their compatriot Tyeb Mehta, who came from Bombay, and Ram Kumar and
Krishen Khanna from New Delhi. Artists S H Raza and his wife Janine Mongillat, as well as Natvar Bhavsar and his
wife Janet Brosious, often stayed with them when visiting the city.

In 1974, the Mangaldases hosted an evening soiree that was attended by internationally renowned American
architect Louis Kahn, who was in town to oversee further work on his project designs for the Indian Institute of
Management, Ahmedabad—for which Doshi was an associate architect. Urmila Mangaldas remembers, “A relaxed
Kahn sat on the marble projection in the veranda, conversing with a group of young architects. He also looked
around later, professionally, appreciatively, and critically, at the building. For me, to have this pleasant, unassuming
and learned man as our guest was no ordinary event.” The charming memory of this meeting inevitably turned to
one of sorrow by the tragic circumstances of Kahn’s demise, who unexpectedly passed away on his journey back
to the US.

It was at the Mangaldas’ house that M F Husain met B V Doshi, and they began planning the design for Husain’s
dream project of an underground art museum in Ahmedabad—initially known as the Husain‒Doshi Gufa, and
later changed to Amdavad ni Gufa as a tribute to the city. Upon completion, Mangaldas—who had worked
closely on this project during its construction to ensure that it ran smoothly—also served as the gallery’s founder‒
chairman for several years, until he had to step down for health reasons. During his tenure, he convinced Ram
Kumar to hold an exhibition of his works there, which attracted a lot of critical attention and almost sold out.

In many ways, the Mangaldases—and their home—inhabit an important corner in modern Indian art history. The
present lot, which was part of the Mangaldas’ carefully curated and preserved collection, is a testament to their
discerning tastes, unwavering support of a formidable generation of artists and their long‒standing commitment
to Indian art.

Images courtesy of the family

45

V S Gaitonde
Image courtesy of Kishori Das
Published in Meera Menezes, Vasudeo Santu Gaitonde: Sonata of Solitude, Mumbai: Bodhana Arts and Research Foundation, 2016

“My paintings are nothing else but the reflection of nature. I want
to say things in a few words. I aim at directness and simplicity.”

V S GAITONDE

Over the years, Gaitonde’s style transitioned and consolidated, but retained an unwavering consistency and
quality. Inspired in various stages of his career by Basohli and Pahari miniatures, artists such as Paul Klee, and
Zen Buddhism, he was “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)

Growing up in a chawl in the Girgaon area of Mumbai, Gaitonde studied at the renowned Sir J J School of
Art in Bombay, graduating successfully in 1948 and winning a fellowship for a further two years. It was a
pivotal time in history – India was on the cusp of independence, and this was reflected in art, with most
artists in Bombay rejecting the pedagogical British style and seeking a new vocabulary. A contemporary of
the Progressive Artists’ Group, Gaitonde was only loosely associated with them, and he exhibited in the
first Bombay Group show. However, in his work, he charted his own course, “consciously choosing not
to pay banal homage to the social and political causes of the time. The social relevance of art was of no
particular interest to him, Gaitonde’s kingdom was not of this world. Abstraction, with its emphasis on the
autonomy of the aesthetic, liberated him from depicting matters temporal, and he was highly conscious of
its emancipatory potential. He chose to focus instead on light and line, texture and tactility, opacity and
translucence and on the evocative possibilities of colour.” (Meera Menezes, Vasudeo Santu Gaitonde: Sonata
of Solitude, Mumbai: Bodhana Arts and Research Foundation, 2016, p. 27)

By 1957, Gaitonde broke away from all forms of figuration and turned toward a nonrepresentational form
of painting, with heavy emphasis on discovering the complexities of colour and space. Around the time the
present lot was painted, he favoured “geometrically rigid” compositions with lines, planes of colour and an
often monochromatic palette, with a “subtle balancing of the image on canvas as if it were undulating on
water and gradually surfacing in the light...” (Dnyaneshwar Nadkarni, Gaitonde, Lalit Kala Akademi, New
Delhi, 1983) During this period, he worked out of a studio at the Bhulabhai Desai Memorial Institute, a
multidisciplinary cultural centre in then Bombay which remained the nexus for many luminaries in the field
of art, theatre and music until its closing in 1967.

In his exploratory process, he had also moved exclusively to oil as a medium, applied with a roller and palette
knife to layer, erase and add shapes and textures. “He built paint up and scraped it off. He laid it down in layer
after aqueous layer, leaving stretches of drying time in between. He said himself that much of his effort as
an artist was in the realm of thinking, planning, trying things out. After what appeared to be unproductive
periods — he averaged only five or six paintings a year — he suddenly plunged ahead, letting accident have
a hand, as he pressed bits of painted paper to canvas to make patterns, or placed paint‒soaked strips of cloth
on surfaces and left them there, like patches of impasto or embroidery.” (Cotter, online)

For these reasons, this was a significant and transitional period in Gaitonde’s career. With the opening of Bal
Chhabda’s Gallery 59 — the first commercial gallery in the city — there were many more opportunities for
artists to showcase their work, and Chhabda organised a solo exhibition of Gaitonde’s work at the Jehangir
Art Gallery in 1961‒62. His work was collected by prominent individuals and museums, including Emmanuel
Schlesinger, Dr. Homi J Bhabha, the Lalit Kala Akademi, National Gallery of Modern Art, and Chhabda himself.

Painted in 1961, the present lot is executed in a vertical format — an orientation Gaitonde would work
with exclusively from 1968 onwards — with a deep, warm red palette broken by an inky black band at the
centre of the canvas that divides it in neat halves. The impasto laden black streak in the centre appears like
a horizon that separates the sky from the sea — an image further emphasised by the black dot in the upper
half reminiscent of a dark sun, reflected in the lower half like a negative, mirror image. Gaitonde “equated
the circle… with silence, speech with the splitting of the circle in half, and Zen with a dot.” (Sandhini Poddar,
V S Gaitonde: Painting as Process, Painting as Life, New York: Guggenheim Museum Publications, 2014, p. 39)

Although the warm red hue of the present lot was a rare choice for Gaitonde — preferring ethereal blues and greens usually — he continued exploring the
colour palette intermittently over the next decade as his style evolved.

Untitled, 1958 Untitled, 1961 Untitled, 1973
Saffronart, 12‒13 June 2019, lot 50 Saffronart, Mumbai, 26 March 2019, lot 37
Saffronart, V S Gaitonde: Works from Private Sold for Rs 25.24 crores ($3.7 million)
Similar to the present lot, this work was also formerly in Collections, 21 January – 4 February 2011
the collection of Urmila and Gunvant Mangaldas

48

The sense of tranquillity and ephemerality in the artist’s In these works from the 1960s, similar to the present lot,
works were perhaps a direct inspiration from Zen the artist’s exploration of nature and engagement with
philosophy. “A turning point in his life came after his Zen Buddhism synthesises into a form of abstraction
encounter with Zen Buddhism through the book Zen in that evokes both the sea and the landscape.
the Art of Archery. His engagement with Zen also gave
him a deeper understanding of nature and his early Untitled, 1960
forays into the realm of abstraction were evocative of
both sea and landscape.” (Menezes, p. 27) Although Untitled, 1962
Gaitonde was rarely literal or obviously representational,
the spiritual role of nature was undeniable in his works. Untitled, 1965
Of similar paintings, critic Sham Lal once said, “Even in Images reproduced from Meera Menezes, Vasudeo Santu
Gaitonde’s abstract (sic) canvases, don’t the large red or Gaitonde: Sonata of Solitude, Mumbai: Bodhana Arts and
mauve or blue surfaces remind us in some vague way Research Foundation, 2016, pp. 101, 128, 139
of the immensity of outer space, and the circles and
squares which break up this surface of strange planets?”
(Quoted in Nadkarni)

Gaitonde’s process of perfecting such works was a
lengthy one. Throughout the year, he only made a
handful of paintings, spending months working on a
single canvas. “This emphasis on the creative process,
the artist’s masterful handling of color, structure, texture,
and light, and his intuitive understanding of how these
forces come together to alter one’s perception are
testament to his unwavering commitment to his craft.
Gaitonde’s profound understanding of the properties
and capacities of his chosen medium — painting —
which constituted the sole vehicle of experience for
the artist and the viewer, sets his works apart not only
as deeply contemplative and refined objects, but as
containers of an avid, voracious worldview...” (Poddar,
p. 30)

Gaitonde’s enigmatic canvases, including the present lot,
encapsulated emotion through the medium of paint,
and in their quiet intrigue and quest for perfection, they
were an extension of the master artist himself. With
his uniquely personal vision that transcended cultural
boundaries, Gaitonde’s works hold universal appeal
among art connoisseurs across the world today.

49

47

M F HUSAIN (1913‒2011)

Untitled
Signed, dated and inscribed ‘Husain/ 3 oct. ‘86 VI/ New York’ (lower right)
1986
Watercolour and ink on paper
23.5 x 18 in (60 x 45.8 cm)
$ 11,270 ‒ 14,085
Rs 8,00,000 ‒ 10,00,000
PROVENANCE
Formerly in the Collection of Bal Chhabda
Thence by descent
Acquired from the above by the present owner

50