Spring Auctions 2021

SPRING AUCTIONS 2021

MODERN INDIAN ART
11 MARCH 2021 • LIVE • MUMBAI

MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY INDIAN ART
11 ‒ 12 MARCH 2021 • ONLINE

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CONTENTS

L I V E AU C T I O N

3 SALES AND ENQUIRIES
5 THE AUCTION CATALOGUE
146 FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
150 CONDITIONS FOR SALE
1 59 ABSENTEE/PROXY BID FORM
161 INDEX

O N L I N E AU C T I O N

1 67 SALES AND ENQUIRIES
169 THE AUCTION CATALOGUE
2 66 FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
270 CONDITIONS FOR SALE
278 CLOSING SCHEDULE
2 79 ABSENTEE/PROXY BID FORM
281 INDEX

Cover Back cover Inside front cover Inside back cover
Lot 13 Lot 41 Lot 46 Lot 44

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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

JOE CYRIL MAIA JASUBHOY

BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER
CLIENT RELATIONS, LONDON

EDITORIAL AND DESIGN

ALKA SAMANT JATIN LAD EESHA PATKAR KRITI BAJAJ

VICE PRESIDENT DESIGN SENIOR DESIGNER EDITORIAL MANAGER EDITORIAL MANAGER

OPERATIONS AND FINANCE

MANU CHANDRA VINAY BHATE YASH GADHIYA NARSINGRAO ANJALI GHATGE CHANDRA POOJARI ABHINAV JHA

HEAD OF OPERATIONS VICE PRESIDENT HEAD OF TECHNOLOGY LEAD SOFTWARE ENGINEER MANAGER SENIOR MANAGER EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT
FINANCE AND PRODUCT LOGISTICS COORDINATOR ‒ PARTNER
TECHNOLOGY FINANCE GALLERY PROGRAM

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LIVE AUCTION MUMBAI

Thursday, 11 March 2021 1 – 11 March 2021
Auction: 7.30 pm 11 am – 5 pm, Monday to Saturday
(By prior appointment only)
VENUE
VENUE
Saffronart, Industry Manor, Ground Floor
Appasaheb Marathe Marg Saffronart, Industry Manor, Ground Floor
Prabhadevi, Mumbai 400025 Appasaheb Marathe Marg
Prabhadevi, Mumbai 400025
VIEWINGS

NEW DELHI
26 February – 11 March 2021
11 am – 5 pm, Monday to Saturday
(By prior appointment only)

VENUE
Saffronart, The Oberoi
Dr. Zakir Hussain Marg
New Delhi 110003

AUCTIONEERS

DINESH VAZIRANI
PUNYA NAGPAL

SALES TEAM AND AUCTION ENQUIRIES

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

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The following lots 1 ‒ 40 are located in India and may only
be bid upon in INR currency. For further details, please refer

to the Conditions for Sale at the end of the catalogue.

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1

JAMINI ROY (1887‒1972)

Untitled

Signed in Bengali (lower centre)
Gouache on card
12.5 x 15 in (31.9 x 38 cm)

Rs 5,00,000 ‒ 7,00,000
$6,945 ‒ 9,725

NON‒EXPORTABLE NATIONAL ART TREASURE

PROVENANCE
Acquired in India, circa 1970s
Private British Collection
Acquired from the above

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© Gabriel Irwin
Reproduced with kind permission of the photographer’s son

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JAMINI ROY (1887‒1972)

Untitled
Signed in Bengali (lower right)
Gouache on card
13 x 19.25 in (33.3 x 49.2 cm)
Rs 5,00,000 ‒ 7,00,000
$6,945 ‒ 9,725
NON‒EXPORTABLE NATIONAL ART TREASURE
PROVENANCE
Acquired in India, circa 1970s
Private British Collection
Acquired from the above

“I felt it was my duty to speak for the people, through my work.”

— JAMINI ROY

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AMRITA SHER‒GIL (1913‒1941)

Untitled
Watercolour on paper
7 x 5 in (18 x 12.5 cm)
Rs 18,00,000 ‒ 24,00,000
$25,000 ‒ 33,335
NON‒EXPORTABLE NATIONAL ART TREASURE

PROVENANCE
Acquired directly from the artist's family

Amrita Sher‒Gil’s work often explored feminine
themes, and the artist was drawn to depicting
women "in an emotionally charged and sensuous
manner." (Artist quoted in Vivan Sundaram ed.,
Amrita Sher‒Gil: A Self‒Portrait in Letters & Writings,
Volume 1, New Delhi: Tulika Books, 2010, p. xl) Her
early works showcase an artist on the verge of realising
her artistic strengths. Sher‒Gil was yet to discover the
synthesis of form and colour seen in her later work,
but nonetheless, her portrayals from this time evoke
a sense of haunting beauty, as seen in the present
lot. Sher‒Gil's fondness for portraying female figures
and relationships would remain with her throughout
her career, manifesting in later oil paintings which
often depicted women and were "handled with
great sensitivity and not with superficial pity or
condescension." (Yashodhara Dalmia, Amrita Sher‒
Gil: A Life, New Delhi: Penguin, 2006, p. 20)

Autographed photograph of Amrita Sher‒Gil
Saffronart, Mumbai, 14 December 2015, lot 45

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K H ARA (1914‒1985)

Untitled (Nude)
Signed 'ARA' (lower left)
Watercolour and ink on paper pasted on board
29.25 x 20.75 in (74.5 x 53 cm)
Rs 8,00,000 ‒ 10,00,000
$11,115 ‒ 13,890

PROVENANCE:
Important Private Collection, New Delhi
Saffronart, Mumbai, 24 February 2016, lot 41

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GANESH PYNE (1937‒2013)

Woman
Signed and dated in Bengali (lower right)
2003
Mixed media on paper
11 x 9.75 in (27.9 x 25 cm)
Rs 7,00,000 ‒ 9,00,000
$9,725 ‒ 12,500
PROVENANCE
Dhoomimal Art Centre, New Delhi

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PROPERTY FROM AN IMPORTANT PRIVATE COLLECTION, MUMBAI

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F N SOUZA (1924‒2002)

Head

Inscribed 'F.N.SOUZA' on the stretcher bar (on the reverse)
1959
Oil on canvas
9 x 7.25 in (23.1 x 18.3 cm)

Rs 10,00,000 ‒ 15,00,000
$13,890 ‒ 20,835

PROVENANCE
Gallery One, London, UK
Sotheby's, London, 14 July 2005, lot 31
Saffronart, New Delhi, 8 September 2016, lot 5

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F N SOUZA (1924‒2002)

Untitled (Still Life with Table)

Signed and dated 'Souza 59' (upper right)
1959
Ink on paper
13 x 8 in (33 x 20.4 cm)

Rs 2,00,000 ‒ 3,00,000
$2,780 ‒ 4,170

PROVENANCE
Estate of F N Souza
Grosvenor Gallery, London
Acquired from the above

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PROPERTY OF A GENTLEMAN, NEW DELHI
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S H RAZA (1922‒2016)

Untitled (Srinagar)
Signed and dated 'S.H.RAZA/ 48' (lower left)
1948
Watercolour and gouache on paper pasted
on mount board
20.75 x 19 in (53 x 48 cm)
Rs 30,00,000 ‒ 50,00,000
$41,670 ‒ 69,445
PROVENANCE
Private Collection, Mumbai
Thence by descent
Acquired from above
EXHIBITED
Bombay Progressive Artists Group Exhibition,
Bombay: Bombay Art Society, 1948

S H Raza
Image courtesy of Ruxana Pathan
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The present lot continues S H Raza’s preoccupation with the French landscape. Titled
Moulin (Wind‒mill), it depicts his semi‒abstracted representation of his adopted
country, and was perhaps a gift to his friend and noteworthy collector Bal Chhabda.
Between 1954 and 1965, Raza followed, literally, in the footsteps of the French artist
Paul Cezanne — whose work and composition had been brought to his attention a
few years earlier by acclaimed photographer Henri Cartier‒Bresson. “[Raza] moved
out to the countryside; to Cezanne's Provence... and to the Maritime Alps where the
French landscape with its trees, mountains, villages, and churches became his staple
diet.” (Yashodhara Dalmia, The Making of Modern Indian Art: The Progressives, New
Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2001, pp. 151‒152)
Having spent a decade in France, Raza's artistic methods had evolved by 1960 — when
the present lot was painted — from precisely structured landscapes to unrestrained,
gestural ones with colour and texture as the primary focus. While they continued to
be inspired by his travels through rural France, they were, at the same time, beginning
to recall his Indian roots and associations. Both the change in medium — Raza had
started to paint with oils instead of gouache and tempera — as well as the evolving
style of his painting “signified a fundamental change of attitude. The scholar, who
had measured and calculated, burst through the confines of a limited understanding
of colour and space‒created‒by‒colour into a sphere of full realisation.” (Rudolf von
Leyden, Raza, Bombay: Sadanga Publications, 1959, p. 19)

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9 PROVENANCE
Formerly in the Collection of Bal Chhabda
S H RAZA (1922‒2016) Thence by descent
Acquired from the above by the present owner
Moulin (Wind‒Mill)
PUBLISHED
Signed and dated 'RAZA '60' (lower right); 50 Years of Bal Chhabda: Paintings in New York,
signed twice, inscribed and dated 'RAZA/ ''Moulin'' New York: Tamarind Art Gallery, 2006, p. 22 (illustrated)
(wind ‒ mill)/ P‒321 '60/ To my friend Bal/ Best Wishes
for 1961/ RAZA/ Paris ‒ 7th Feb 1961' (on the reverse)
1960
Oil on canvas
28 x 19 in (71 x 48 cm)

Rs 40,00,000 ‒ 60,00,000
$55,560 ‒ 83,335

Paysage Barbizon, 1959 The careful construction and objectivity of the previous decade had now
Saffronart, New Delhi, begun to wane, leaving room for a new kind of emotional subjectivity.
12 September 2019, lot 11 “The colour‒harmony achieved on the canvas was emblematic of an
Sold for Rs 78 lakhs ($109,859) inner search for harmony. The emotive element in Raza's art was an
Indian legacy which he never moved away from and which, once again,
Paysage, 1960 qualified his kind of modernism. Though his full Indian rootedness was
Saffronart, 9‒10 December 2019, lot 20 to appear much later in his work, one could discern in his work at this
Sold for Rs 3.23 crores ($462,000) stage that he still painted like an Indian in the Parisian school." (Ashok
Vajpeyi ed., A Life in Art: S H Raza, New Delhi: Art Alive Gallery, 2007, p.
20 76)

According to Raza, “There is a danger in too great obsession with image,
as there is danger in making colour orchestration the sole purpose of
painting. The form analysis and the evolution of pictorial thought from
Cezanne to de Stael is a logical growth. Following the direction, one
enters the domain where colour is energy with innumerable situations
and possibilities.” (Artist quoted in Von Leyden, p. 19) The present lot is
a fine example of Raza's intuitive exploration of colour relationships and
the sense of balance that pervades his oeuvre, cementing his place as one
of the most influential artists of the post‒Independence era.

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Bal Chhabda with the present lot in the background
Reproduced from 50 Years of Bal Chhabda: Paintings in New York, New York: Tamarind Art Gallery, 2006. p. 22

Bal Chhabda with wife Jeet
Image courtesy of the present owner
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BAL CHHABDA (1923 – 2013)

Bal Chhabda’s role as a patron to the artists—and as an artist himself—was a seminal one in the history of
modern Indian art. A key figure among the art circles from the 1950s onwards, Chhabda was a close friend
of the Progressive Artists’ Group and instrumental in promoting and contributing to their success. “The
history remembers and reminisces those with success, the pioneers; the steps are not counted, just trod
upon… Bal Chhabda, the loyal friend Husain mentions, is the significant piece of the jigsaw called PAG.”
(Snehal Tambulwadikar, “The Unspoken Histories and Fragment: Bal Chhabda,” art news & views, online)

Born in pre‒Partition Punjab in 1923, Chhabda was an artist, gallerist, collector, and in his early days, even
a filmmaker. After a brief stint working in the family business of film distribution in Ahmedabad, Chhabda
embarked on a year‒long explorative journey to Hollywood in 1947 and made a film titled Do Raha in
1952. Although it was commercially unsuccessful, Chhabda formed a friendship with the modernist M
F Husain through it and became immersed in the art world, when his attempt to secure funds for his
second film failed.

In the late 1950s, Husain took him to the Bhulabhai Desai Memorial Institute in Mumbai, which was then
the nexus for budding artists, musicians and theatre practitioners. Through the erstwhile PAG artist, he
met the theatre doyen Ebrahim Alkazi and artists Tyeb Mehta, S H Raza, Krishen Khanna, Ram Kumar
and V S Gaitonde, who lived and assembled at the Institute. It was Husain and Gaitonde’s encouragement
that prompted Chhabda to try his hand at painting.

At the time, there were no contemporary art spaces in Mumbai, and to answer this need, Chhabda
founded Gallery 59 in 1959—named after the year it was formed—at the ground floor of the Institute.
Although it was short‒lived, Gallery 59 showcased important works of many young artists, such as Akbar
Padamsee’s seminal solo show Grey Works, which included the monumental painting Greek Landscape,
and was showered with rave reviews by leading critics.

Within a year of its opening, Chhabda shut down the gallery after differences with the Institute’s manager,
but he remained a close patron and friend to artists, amassing a huge collection of their works throughout
his lifetime. Lots 9 and 10 were a part of his collection.

As unequivocally supportive as he was of his fellow artists, Chhabda was just as shy about his own art.
Although he had perhaps only three solo shows in his entire artistic career, he participated in several
prestigious exhibitions in India and internationally. In 1961, he received the Governor’s award at the Tokyo
Biennale—an honour he steadfastly downplayed. In 1965, he received the Lalit Kala Akademi Award,
followed by a J D Rockefeller III Fellowship to travel and work in the US. Four years later, his work was
selected for the show Contemporary Art: A Dialogue between the East and West, which included the likes
of Robert Rauschenberg, Andy Warhol, Gerhard Richter and Jackson Pollock, and was held at the Musem
of Modern Art in Tokyo. Even the establishment of the Jehangir Nicholson Gallery of Modern Art, which
was possible due to Jehangir Nicholson donating a part of his collection to the National Centre for the
Performing Arts, is partially credited to Bal Chhabda.

Heartbroken after the death of artists and close friends Tyeb Mehta in 2009 and M F Husain in 2011,
Chhabda was said to have become a recluse. He passed away in 2013. His contribution to the development
of Indian art, whether directly or indirectly, and the growth of the art scene in Mumbai, was pivotal to its
success, and are enduring reminders of his legacy.

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Somnath Hore Much of Somnath Hore’s work responds
© Jyoti Bhatt to the socio‒political issues and historical
events in his lifetime, including the 1940
24 Bengal famine, Tebhaga movement, and
the Vietnam war. He began sculpting
only in the 1970s in Santiniketan, and
both his figurative paintings and bronzes
often depict the trials of the human
experience. "Somnath, along with a few
others, can be regarded as the progenitor
of the main spirit of the seventies in Indian
art. Unlike most of his predecessors and
contemporaries, he was never primarily
motivated by art objects and styles of art,
past or present, of indigenous or of foreign
origin… His primary motivation has always
been his experience of the external world
around him. It has always been his aim to
objectify visually his own experience of the
phenomenal world in perceptible terms,
so that others can share his experience."
(Pranab Ranjan Roy, "Hunger and the
Painter: Somnath Hore & the Wounds,"
Somnath Hore: Bronzes, Kolkata: CIMA,
1995, p. 33)

As seen in the present lot, which once
belonged to the collection of eminent
artist Bal Chhabda, Hore’s bronze figures are
small and minimalistic yet impactful, with
rough textures and surfaces. According to
R Siva Kumar, “The modeling of the face,
the hunched back, the folds and axial shifts
of the body, everything carries the imprint
of the artist's hands. Turning his bronzes in
our hands or running our hands over them,
we become aware of this intimate shaping
process… In his own words, the artistic
excellence of art 'is revealed through its
own components, not because of any
message of polemic'. The strength and
radical edge of his work comes from this
fusion of means and meaning." ("Somnath
Hore: Images of Discontent," Somnath
Hore: Bronzes, Kolkata: CIMA, p. 36)

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SOMNATH HORE (1921‒2006)

Untitled
Initialled, signed and dated 'S.H Somnath 86'
(on the reverse)
1986
Bronze
Height: 10.75 in (27.3 cm)
Width: 5.75 in (14.5 cm)
Depth: 4.75 in (12 cm)
Rs 20,00,000 ‒ 30,00,000
$27,780 ‒ 41,670
PROVENANCE
Formerly in the Collection of Bal Chhabda
Thence by descent
Acquired from the above by the present owner

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11

HIMMAT SHAH (b.1933)

Untitled
Signed and dated in Devnagari (lower right)
1966
Mixed media on wood
22 x 22 in (56 x 56 cm)
Rs 6,00,000 ‒ 8,00,000
$8,335 ‒ 11,115
PROVENANCE
Private Collection, New Delhi

"Human being is an enigma, and what he
creates should also be an enigma." – HIMMAT SHAH

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PROPERTY OF A GENTLEMAN, NEW DELHI Himmat Shah was born in 1933 in Lothal, Gujarat
– an excavation site of the Indus Valley civilisation,
12 with one of the highest yields of sculptural
artefacts. The artist explored the caves and desert
HIMMAT SHAH (b.1933) landscapes of the region throughout his childhood,
and these early experiences had a deep impact on
Untitled his work. Shah immersed himself in many mediums
before focusing on sculptures; in the late 1960s, he
Signed twice ‘HIMMAT’ (on the base) designed and executed monumental murals in
Terracotta brick, cement and concrete at St. Xavier's School
Height: 13.5 in (34 cm) Ahmedabad. Later, he started working with reliefs
Width: 7.75 in (20 cm) and sculptures in plaster, terracotta and ceramics,
Depth: 10 in (25.5 cm) exploring materiality, texture and the various ways
in which reality can be presented. Today, Shah is
Rs 10,00,000 ‒ 15,00,000 best known for his sculptures of heads, as seen
$13,890 ‒ 20,835 in the present lot – an earlier work with details
and facial features which would give way to near‒
PROVENANCE blankness in Shah’s future sculptures of heads.
Acquired directly from the artist

Himmat Shah
© Jyoti Bhatt

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Harshavadan Mangaldas, Cambridge, Massachusetts, June 1947

Harshavadan Mangaldas with President Dr Rajendra Prasad Harshavadan Mangaldas with Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru
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LIVING WITH ART AND TRADITION

By the time of his death in Ojai, California in 1986, the “I remember him very clearly,” says Devyani, almost
philosopher Jiddu Krishnamurti had impacted and 60 years later, “He was a short, dark, squat man with
changed many lives through his teachings. Some of wavy black hair. I think he was dressed in jeans and
this influence had taken a celebrity form as he gained a white kurta, which I think was the style at the
global recognition for his unique school of thought, time. He was very reserved and hardly spoke a few
while others he affected on a deep, personal level. words. He just stood there quietly.” This single, and
Gaitonde was one of them (along with the artist only, meeting between artist and collector proved
Prabhakar Barwe), as was the Mangaldas family.  to be a serendipitous one. The young couple fell in
love with the painting—the present lot—purchased
In 1948, Krishnamurti became acquainted with sisters it and brought it back with them to their home in
Nandini Mehta and Pupul Jayakar, the latter of whom Ahmedabad, where it resided first in their bedroom
wrote the seminal biography on his life at the time of and later in a casual dining room for nearly four
his death. Mehta’s daughter Devyani Mangaldas—a decades. “I loved to gaze at it,” Devyani recalls.
former psychology counsellor at the J B Petit School “Starting with that one red spot, which you could
in Mumbai, and who up until last year managed Bal concentrate on, and then your mind expands to
Anand, a centre for underprivileged children that the blues, and you just get lost within oneself or
her mother founded—also documented Mehta’s within this vast universe. One is so caught up in life’s
life through her diaries, letters, and conversations in entanglements, but then you look at something like
the book Walking with Krishnamurti (2018). In the this, it takes you beyond and fills you with joy. I was
book, Devyani recounts Nandini Mehta’s struggles, transported for years.”
triumphs and the path of self‒discovery that led to
a peaceful, compassionate existence largely through Devyani and Harshavadan Mangaldas at their wedding reception,
the teachings of Krishnamurti.  24 April 1959

This connection extended to other members of the
family, including Devyani’s cousin Asit Chandmal,
who was a close friend of the philosopher’s and
would often host him during his visits to Bombay.
It is a point of speculation whether Gaitonde was
introduced to Krishnamurti through Chandmal—
who was involved in the art community himself—
or whether they became acquainted at one of
Krishnamurti’s lectures, which he often gave in the
outdoor compound at the J J School of Art. Gaitonde
and Chandmal maintained a close friendship as well.
In 1962, Chandmal reached out to Devyani and her
husband Harshavadan Mangaldas and insisted that
they visit Gaitonde’s studio at the Bhulabhai Desai
Memorial Institute to see a magnificent painting that
he had created. 

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Devyani and Harshavadan Mangaldas at their Ahmedabad residence A renowned Kathak dancer and choreographer, Aditi
Mangaldas was merely two when this painting was
The painting took pride of place in the Mangaldas brought to their house and remembers it being the
household, even dictating the choice of décor in the centre point of their home’s visual landscape. Her
room it inhabited. From the blue of the curtains to understanding of art and beauty began with and
the blue‒and‒red Royal Kashan carpet, it influenced evolved around this work, with the colours intriguing
their home’s aesthetic environment for many years. her as a young child and prompting a critical inquiry
After Harshavadan Mangaldas’ passing in 1999, into the notions of process and artistic intent as she
the painting came to dwell in his daughter Aditi’s grew up—thoughts which formed the foundational
house in New Delhi, where it occupied a prime spot basis of her own dance practice. In trying to seek her
in her living room for the last two decades. Unlike own narrative in this work, she developed a beautiful
her parents’ home, the blue work was to stand out relationship with it, one that has been part of her
starkly in a sea of off‒white. Aditi says, “It was always existence for practically her life.
there to be enjoyed. Nobody was thinking about its
value in terms of money. Its only value was in terms Growing up in a progressive family who encouraged
of its extreme power and beauty.” Aditi and her brother Aditya to question and
debate everything, the dancer was simultaneously
enrolled at the Shreyas School founded by her aunt
the late Leena Sarabhai, which exposed her to the
arts, particularly the classical arts, right from the
beginning. Devyani recalls that on a few occasions
the artist Haku Shah came to teach Aditi painting
when she was four, and she had also begun dancing
at the same time. Eventually all other interests faded,
and only dance remained her one true calling. She
began training with legendary Kathak gurus Shrimati
Kumudini Lakhia and Pandit Birju Maharaj, both of
whom not only trained her as a dancer, but shaped
her approach to dance itself. They encouraged

Family members of Harshavadan and Devyani Mangaldas at the Ahmedabad residence with the present lot in the background
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Aditi Mangaldas during one of her dance performances on stage Aditi Mangaldas meeting Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II
Photo credit: Arijeet Mukherjee
These are questions that became part of my journey
her to look at the classical form of Kathak through and subconsciously influenced my dance journey as
contemporary eyes. Today, Aditi is recognised for well, because I constantly question myself about my
her artistry and technique, as well as her ground‒ intention and ask myself “Why do I do a particular
breaking choreography that seamlessly blends the movement?” “Why am I in a circle when I’m dancing?”
classical form of Kathak with a contemporary dance or “Why do I wear blue with a tint of green?””
vocabulary, which has led her to win several awards,
including a nomination in the UK’s National Dance Aditi likens these questions and the thought process
Critics Circle Awards for Outstanding Performance behind it to “subterranean streams”—subconscious
(Classical) in 2017. influences, such as this painting, that have been part
of her and her family’s life for the past 58 years and
It is the same philosophy that she adopts for informed their aesthetics. How does she feel about
understanding other aesthetic forms, and perhaps life, parting with this work after six decades? Echoing
as well: “We are an ancient civilisation and one should some of the notions of life and freedom espoused
be informed by our history and geography but not be by Krishnamurti, whose philosophical legacy inspired
bogged down by it... I think if you are open to life, to her family’s values, as it did Gaitonde’s, she says:
the “nows” of life, you can appreciate contemporary “Change is the only constant.”
art to a great extent. Because you can see how an
artist—whether in fine arts or performing arts—has Aditi Mangaldas with partner Armin Sprotte in her New Delhi residence
transformed their practice from their classical roots. with the present lot in the background
How immense was the transformation, and how very
important and unique is that language.”

In some ways, this critical approach to dance has
its roots in her journey with the Gaitonde painting.
Fascinated by the process between an intangible idea
transforming into a physical art form, a curiosity that
emerged from her visual exploration of this work
she grew up with, Aditi says, “I have often wondered
what crosses an artist’s mind between that point that
they get a thought or an image in their head and
that becomes transformed into art, into colour and
canvas. As a dancer I relate to that. In my childhood
and even later, I questioned, “Why did he add that red
dot?” or “Why was that square on one side, broken?”

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“I was constantly looking at Zen, the canvas, the colour, the
idea. You go on working on the idea, the idea coming into
being. And you start painting. That is the central point of my
activity... even now.” – V S GAITONDE

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

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In the early 1960s, Indian modernist V S Gaitonde was working Gaitonde's work shifted from darker, earthy
out of a small studio at the Bhulabhai Desai Memorial Institute blocks of colour in the late 1950s to more open,
in then Bombay – a multi‒faceted institution that encouraged monochromatic paintings in the early 1960s,
the interaction of various visual and performing arts, and marking a transitional phase in his oeuvre.
where the present lot was first acquired from the artist. It
was at this time that the reclusive Gaitonde, known for his Untitled, 1958
serene, “non‒objective” paintings, began experimenting with Jehangir Nicholson Collection
the layering of pigment and the manipulation of light and Image reproduced from Kamini Sawhney, Dadiba
texture. Influenced by Zen philosophy and the principles of Pundole and Dnyaneshwar Nadkarni, V S Gaitonde:
minimalism, Gaitonde’s works from this period pulsate with The Silent Observer, Mumbai: Jehangir Nicholson Art
an innate lyricism as well as a sense of mystery. Foundation, 2019

Contemplating the bearing that the Institute had on Gaitonde's Untitled, 1962
work, fellow artist Prabhakar Kolte recalled that Gaitonde The Darashaw Collection
would come out onto the lawns of the Institute and spend “… Image reproduced from Zehra Jumabhoy and Boon Hui
hours on end staring at the infinite vastness of the sea before Tan, The Progressive Revolution: Modern Art for a New
him… A very important element that may have attracted his India, New York: Asia Society Museum, 2018, p. 161
attention may have been the horizon. You can see it but it does
not actually exist… If you take one step towards it, it takes one Untitled, 1962
step back… It was probably this play of experiencing infinity Collection of Gayatri and Priyam Jhaveri
that pushed Gaitonde back into the womb of that imaginary,
evasive line. The journey of Gaitonde’s visual sensitivities V S Gaitonde: Works from Private Collections, New Delhi:
meandered through undecipherable formlessness towards an Saffronart, 21 January ‒ 4 February 2011
independent form. His paintings came into existence bearing
the trademark of his genius and as nothing but paintings in Published in Sandhini Poddar, V S Gaitonde: Painting
themselves.” (“Husain and Gaitonde,” From Art to Art: Essays as Process, Painting as Life, New York: The Solomon R
and Critique by Prabhakar Kolte, Mumbai: Bodhana Arts Guggenheim Museum, 2014, p. 68 and Meera Menezes,
Foundation, 2008, p. 80) Vasudeo Santu Gaitonde: Sonata of Solitude, Mumbai:
Bodhana Arts and Research Foundation, 2016, pl. 60
Gaitonde's aesthetic vision was rooted in a deeply meditative
sensibility. Although he disliked calling himself an abstract
artist, and, indeed, being slotted into any known genres, he
is undoubtedly one of India's foremost modern abstract
expressionists. 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) From his modest beginnings growing up in a chawl in
the Girgaum area of Mumbai, Gaitonde went on to achieve
great acclaim as a formidable artist not only in India, but also
internationally. 

Gaitonde graduated from the Sir J J School of Art in Bombay
in 1948, and was invited to join the Bombay Progressives in the
early 1950s. In the decade that followed, the artist experimented

37

with various forms of figuration and abstraction that showed Untitled, 1962
certain Western influences, but were also informed by his Jehangir Nicholson Collection
formal studies and knowledge of traditional Indian art styles. In Image reproduced from Sawhney, Pundole and Nadkarni
these early works, he adopted the bold colours and fine lines
of the Basohli and Jain schools of painting. In the second half Painting No. 1, 1962
of the 1950s, Gaitonde began to move away from figuration Private Collection, New York
and favoured a darker, more earthy palette and blocks of Image reproduced from Sandhini Poddar, V S Gaitonde:
colour. “Gaitonde’s consistently nonrepresentational works Painting as Process, Painting as Life, New York: The
from 1959 onward resist any intrinsic meaning or description Solomon R Guggenheim Museum, 2014, p. 69 
and must be dealt with on their own uncompromised terms…
This, however, does not make them unmoored, universalizing Untitled, 1963
agents – rather they exist in time, and are contingent on the Collection: Tata Institute of Fundamental
socializing factors of history and culture, the very factors that Research, Mumbai
make them modern.” (Sandhini Poddar, V S Gaitonde: Painting Image reproduced from Poddar, p. 75
as Process, Painting as Life, New York: Guggenheim Museum
Publications, 2014, p. 18)

By the early 1960s, when the present lot was painted,
Gaitonde embarked on a journey "that would take him from
form to formlessness, from essaying an outward reality to
conducting a deep search within." (Vasudeo Santu Gaitonde:
Sonata of Solitude, Mumbai: Bodhana Arts and Research
Foundation, 2016, p. 98) This was further augmented by his
choice of largely monochromatic colour palettes from 1961
onwards, which he achieved almost exclusively through the
use of rollers and palette knives instead of only brushes. "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." (Holland Cotter, “An
Indian Modernist With a Global Gaze,” The New York Times, 1
January 2015, 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.

The present lot is painted in tones of blue, with darker bands
that divide the canvas nearly in halves both horizontally and
vertically. Reminiscent of an ever‒changing body of water, the

38

artist alternates light‒filled swatches of blue with darker forms Untitled, 1963
that seem to blur and fade at the edges, as though seen from a Saffronart, New Delhi, 21 September 2017, lot 13
distance. Critics have noted the thematic resemblance to water
in Gaitonde's works with similar palettes, which he would Abstract, 1964
return to in the late 1960s. "...Gaitonde was also working with Tata Institute of Fundamental Research
painting itself. The creation of texture in an unconventional Collection, Mumbai
way, the use of thick lugubrious pigment, the evocation of
light and, finally, the subtle balancing of the image on canvas Image reproduced from Sawhney, Pundole and
as if it were undulating on water and gradually surfacing in Nadkarni
the light..." (Dnyaneshwar Nadkarni, Gaitonde, New Delhi: Lalit
Kala Akademi, 1983) A vivid red dot is visible on the right; as
Poddar wrote of a similar work, it “hovers against the negative
space of the canvas and serves as a counterpoint to the cluster
of geometries to the left.” Elsewhere, Gaitonde “equated the
circle… with silence, speech with the splitting of the circle in
half, and Zen with a dot.” (Poddar, p. 25, 39)

The sense of tranquillity and ephemerality in the artist's works
were perhaps a direct inspiration from Zen philosophy. "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." (Menezes, p. 27)
Gaitonde was also inclined towards the philosophical and
spiritual teachings of J Krishnamurti and Ramana Maharshi.

Gaitonde believed that his study of and engagement with Zen,
as manifested in his paintings, distinguished them from those
of his contemporaries and the artistic movements prevalent
at the time. They arose from a process of deep introspection
and a harmony of form, colour, and thought, and painting
them was akin to a philosophical exercise rooted in quiet
transformation. The artist was unparalleled in his ability to
both conceal and reveal illumination, encapsulating emotion
through the medium of paint. “For Gaitonde, art starts in
intensity that moves steadily towards refining itself. The
objectives, the quality one searches for comes by accident,
unsought. All one can do is to apply oneself to master the
craft, master one’s own sensibility, to work with almost stoic
indifference and to wait on the time.” (Pria Karunakar, “V S
Gaitonde,” Lalit Kala Contemporary vol. 19‒20, New Delhi: Lalit
Kala Akademi, 1975, p. 17) Gaitonde’s influences were many,
but his thought process was singular, resulting in an oeuvre
that was unique, luminous and enigmatic.

39

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

40

41

PROPERTY FROM THE COLLECTION OF
ADITI MANGALDAS AND ADITYA MANGALDAS

13

V S GAITONDE (1924‒2001)

Untitled

Signed and dated in Devnagari (on the reverse)
1961
Oil on canvas
50 x 80 in (127 x 203 cm)

Rs 25,00,00,000 ‒ 35,00,00,000
$3,472,225 ‒ 4,861,115

PROVENANCE
Acquired directly from the artist during his time at the
Bhulabhai Desai Memorial Institute, Bombay
Thence by descent

Untitled, 1974 Untitled, 1973 Untitled, 1982
Saffronart, Saffronart, Mumbai, Saffronart, New Delhi,
17 September 2020, lot 13 26 March 2019, lot 37 21 September 2019, lot 12
Sold for Rs 35.5 crores Sold for Rs 25.24 crores Sold for Rs 26.88 crores
($4.86 million) ($3.7 million) ($3.79 million)

42

43

44

A ROOM WITH A VIEW

In 1964, Gaitonde went to New York on a John D the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC,
Rockefeller III fellowship, where he was introduced which was bequeathed nearly 900 works by the
to Abstract Expressionist artists including Mark Mark Rothko Foundation in 1984 and displays a
Rothko. Krishen Khanna recalled that he visited rotating selection of the artist's work in its East
Rothko's studio with Gaitonde, "and Rothko was in Building. The Phillips Collection, also in DC, had
the middle of painting those black paintings of his." a dedicated room for four of the artist's paintings
(Sandhini Poddar, V S Gaitonde: Painting as Process, as early as the 1960s. More examples of similar
Painting as Life, New York: Guggenheim Museum spaces include the Rothko room display at the
Publications, 2014, p. 27) Gaitonde had been one Tate Modern in London and the Rothko Chapel
of relatively few Indian artists practicing non‒ in Houston, Texas. Viewing bodies of work of
representational art since the 1950s, inspired by significant artists in a single venue is not only
his "voracious worldview, spanning the traditions powerful – allowing an appreciation of their
of nonobjective painting and Indian miniatures, consistent artistic philosophy and the execution of
Zen Buddhism and East Asian hanging scrolls and their vision over time – it also elevates the artist’s
ink paintings." (Poddar, pp. 30‒31)  oeuvre to the status it rightfully deserves. 

Rothko, too, shifted from figurative works to Interior view of the Rothko Chapel in Houston, Texas.
abstracts in the late 1940s, and the two artists' Photograph by Alan Islas. Wikimedia Commons
work would continue to intersect in interesting
ways. "However, unlike Rothko, who believed that
painting reflected the "human drama" with its
ecstasy and tragedy, Gaitonde's outlook… tends
towards interiority, musicality or stillness. In the
late 1960s, Rothko and Gaitonde started using
masking tape in some of their paintings to provide
a natural border and to soften the edges of their
colors; they also both preferred coloring the edges
of the stretched canvases and leaving their works
unframed. These decisions point to their mutual
preference for establishing an uninterrupted,
osmotic connection between the painting, its
overall environment, and the body of the viewer."
(Poddar, p. 35)

Rothko's paintings went on to make a powerful
impact in the art ecosystem not only in America
but globally. Collections of the artist's work are
exhibited together in several institutions, including

45

Ram Kumar, 1972. Photograph by R S Yadav
Image courtesy of Vadehra Art Gallery

“Every sight was like a new composition, a life artistically
organised to be interpreted in colours. It was not merely
outward appearances which were fascinating but they were
vibrant with an inner life of their own, very deep and profound,
which left an everlasting impression on my artistic sensibility.
I could feel a new visual language emerging from the depth of
an experience.” — RAM KUMAR

46

PROPERTY OF A DISTINGUISHED GENTLEMAN, NEW DELHI

14

RAM KUMAR (1924‒2018)

Shore

Signed, dated and inscribed
'Ram Kumar 65/ SHORE' (on the reverse)
1965
Oil on canvas
17.25 x 32.5 in (43.8 x 82.8 cm)

Rs 35,00,000 ‒ 45,00,000
$48,615 ‒ 62,500

PROVENANCE
Acquired directly from the artist
Chawla Art Gallery, New Delhi

EXHIBITED
Ram Kumar, New Delhi: Chawla Art Gallery,
6 ‒ 27 March 2011

PUBLISHED
Gagan Gill ed., Ram Kumar: A Journey Within, New Delhi:
Vadehra Art Gallery, 1996, p. 75 (illustrated)
Ram Kumar, New Delhi: Chawla Art Gallery, 2011 (illustrated)

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