India and Himalaya
not including Golconda diamonds
See also : Tibet and Nepal Buddhism Gaitonde Ancient sculpture Early Buddhist sculpture Islam Textiles Jewels II Cartier
Chronology : 1-1000 1000-1300 1620-1629 1650-1659 1700-1709
See also : Tibet and Nepal Buddhism Gaitonde Ancient sculpture Early Buddhist sculpture Islam Textiles Jewels II Cartier
Chronology : 1-1000 1000-1300 1620-1629 1650-1659 1700-1709
Schist Group from Gandhara
2020 SOLD for $ 6.6M including premium by Christie's
narrated post sale in 2020
In the 2nd century BCE Gandhara, whose capital was Peshawar, had been the eastern end of the Hellenistic world. In this region, Greek and Buddhist cultures have mingled.
Around the 1st century CE, Buddhism defined the 32 characteristics of the figurative representation of Buddha to provide the faithful with visual elements to facilitate interpretation. The Gandhara sculptors gradually abandoned Greek figures to illustrate in schist the scenes from the life of Buddha. An ascetic Buddha from the fasting episode was sold for $ 4.45M including premium by Christie's on March 22, 2011.
A 62 x 59 cm gray schist stele surfaced in 1973. Under a lush Buddha tree, five deities are housed with scales varying according to their position in the Buddhist canon. The central figure is the Shakyamuni Buddha in the preaching period, seated on lotus petals. He is flanked by the bodhisattvas Avalokiteshvara and Maitreya. Avalokiteshvara is recognizable by the tiny figure of Buddha coiled in his crown. Behind them, the two smaller worshipers are Brahma and Indra.
All these figures have been carved in deep relief in the stele. The very skilful composition provides the perfect illusion of a sculpture in the round. In the Greek style, the faces are realistic and the attitudes are flexible.
This stele bears an inscription. It is dated to the 5th day of the month of Phalguna in the year 5 from a period that has not been identified, between the end of the 1st century and the 5th century CE. The donor, named Buddhananda, is learned in the three baskets (pitakas), covering all the sacred texts at that time, and he dedicates the work to his parents.
The sculpture is in excellent condition, apart from the fact that three of the bodhisattvas' four forearms carrying offerings are missing. It was sold for $ 6.6M including premium by Christie's on September 23, 2020, lot 609.
Around the 1st century CE, Buddhism defined the 32 characteristics of the figurative representation of Buddha to provide the faithful with visual elements to facilitate interpretation. The Gandhara sculptors gradually abandoned Greek figures to illustrate in schist the scenes from the life of Buddha. An ascetic Buddha from the fasting episode was sold for $ 4.45M including premium by Christie's on March 22, 2011.
A 62 x 59 cm gray schist stele surfaced in 1973. Under a lush Buddha tree, five deities are housed with scales varying according to their position in the Buddhist canon. The central figure is the Shakyamuni Buddha in the preaching period, seated on lotus petals. He is flanked by the bodhisattvas Avalokiteshvara and Maitreya. Avalokiteshvara is recognizable by the tiny figure of Buddha coiled in his crown. Behind them, the two smaller worshipers are Brahma and Indra.
All these figures have been carved in deep relief in the stele. The very skilful composition provides the perfect illusion of a sculpture in the round. In the Greek style, the faces are realistic and the attitudes are flexible.
This stele bears an inscription. It is dated to the 5th day of the month of Phalguna in the year 5 from a period that has not been identified, between the end of the 1st century and the 5th century CE. The donor, named Buddhananda, is learned in the three baskets (pitakas), covering all the sacred texts at that time, and he dedicates the work to his parents.
The sculpture is in excellent condition, apart from the fact that three of the bodhisattvas' four forearms carrying offerings are missing. It was sold for $ 6.6M including premium by Christie's on September 23, 2020, lot 609.
#AuctionUpdate Sold to applause after competitive bidding, a rare and magnificent gray Schist Relief Triad of Buddha Shakyamuni with Bodhisattvas realized $6,630,000 -- more than 8x over its high estimate. https://t.co/ui1Ion9dcd pic.twitter.com/nxEKQeqVPI
— Christie's (@ChristiesInc) September 23, 2020
The Charming Pala Prince
2017 SOLD for $ 24.7M including premium
The dynasty which reigned through four centuries over Bengal and Bihar is identified as Pala, a suffix meaning "protector" that was added to the personal name of each monarch.
Three religions cohabitated : Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. They shared a same preoccupation of regulating the communication between the divine and the mortal. In Buddhism this function is assured by the bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara.
On March 14 in New York, Christie's sells as lot 233 a statue realized in the later phase of the Pala period around 900 years ago.
The young man sits on a thick lotus, one leg bent and the other hanging. This figure is carved in a black stone similar to a schist which was widely used in the Pala steles and whose hardness enables a great sharpness of sculpture.
He necessarily has all the qualities. The spectacular dynamism of the attitude appeals to dialogue with the faithful. He is a prince elegantly dressed with a profusion of pectoral jewels chiseled in the stone but he also is an ascetic recognizable by his braided hair. His belonging to Buddhism is identified by Amitabha hidden in a fold of the tiara : he is altogether Avalokiteshvara, the all-seeing lord, and Lokanatha, the savior of the world.
The character is life-size in this 148 cm high statue. Such characteristics unusual in Buddhist art suggests that it was the main devotional figure in a temple specially dedicated to Avalokiteshvara.
It was from 1922 an important piece in the collection of Indian art of the Boston Museum before being de-accessionned in 1935 for a trade with another statue of the same culture. The arms and nose were missing. The nose was later rebuilt.
Three religions cohabitated : Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. They shared a same preoccupation of regulating the communication between the divine and the mortal. In Buddhism this function is assured by the bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara.
On March 14 in New York, Christie's sells as lot 233 a statue realized in the later phase of the Pala period around 900 years ago.
The young man sits on a thick lotus, one leg bent and the other hanging. This figure is carved in a black stone similar to a schist which was widely used in the Pala steles and whose hardness enables a great sharpness of sculpture.
He necessarily has all the qualities. The spectacular dynamism of the attitude appeals to dialogue with the faithful. He is a prince elegantly dressed with a profusion of pectoral jewels chiseled in the stone but he also is an ascetic recognizable by his braided hair. His belonging to Buddhism is identified by Amitabha hidden in a fold of the tiara : he is altogether Avalokiteshvara, the all-seeing lord, and Lokanatha, the savior of the world.
The character is life-size in this 148 cm high statue. Such characteristics unusual in Buddhist art suggests that it was the main devotional figure in a temple specially dedicated to Avalokiteshvara.
It was from 1922 an important piece in the collection of Indian art of the Boston Museum before being de-accessionned in 1935 for a trade with another statue of the same culture. The arms and nose were missing. The nose was later rebuilt.
#AsianArtWeek : du 14 au 17 mars @ChristiesInc organise une série de ventes consacrées à l’art d’Asie https://t.co/RTGNrQolil pic.twitter.com/ampK2u6qRS
— Christie's Paris (@christiesparis) March 13, 2017
The Nepalese Bodhisattva
2015 SOLD for $ 8.2M including premium
In all religions, gods must be worshiped but are intimidating. In Buddhism, the bodhisattva solves this paradox. He is conceived as a faithful following the right path, on several levels of which the most developed reaches the perfection of a deity.
The bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara was popular under various names throughout the Buddhist world. Nepalese enthusiastically welcomed this charming young man entrusted for teaching purity to them. Nepalese bronzes show him in a standing position with a big lotus on its rod floating behind the left arm.
With his hand wide open as a sign of benevolence, his bare chest and his face focused on meditation, Avalokiteshvara is somehow the Apollo of Buddhism.
A gilt bronze 45 cm high made in Nepal 800 to 700 years ago was sold for $ 2.5 million including premium by Christie's on March 20, 2012 over a lower estimate of $ 250K.
A figure 64 cm high of very similar design is estimated $ 2M for sale without reserves by Christie's in New York on March 17, lot 25.
This gilt bronze includes a further refinement of high importance. The crown is centered with a fine seated figure of Amitabha, the Buddha of Nirvana, leaving no doubt about the role played by Avalokiteshvara to guide humans to the gods.
The bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara was popular under various names throughout the Buddhist world. Nepalese enthusiastically welcomed this charming young man entrusted for teaching purity to them. Nepalese bronzes show him in a standing position with a big lotus on its rod floating behind the left arm.
With his hand wide open as a sign of benevolence, his bare chest and his face focused on meditation, Avalokiteshvara is somehow the Apollo of Buddhism.
A gilt bronze 45 cm high made in Nepal 800 to 700 years ago was sold for $ 2.5 million including premium by Christie's on March 20, 2012 over a lower estimate of $ 250K.
A figure 64 cm high of very similar design is estimated $ 2M for sale without reserves by Christie's in New York on March 17, lot 25.
This gilt bronze includes a further refinement of high importance. The crown is centered with a fine seated figure of Amitabha, the Buddha of Nirvana, leaving no doubt about the role played by Avalokiteshvara to guide humans to the gods.
Mr Ellsworth's Gilt Bronze Figure of Avalokiteshvara
(Nepal, 13th Century) realized $8,229,000 against $3m estimate pic.twitter.com/4D4ot0J7k0
— Christie's (@ChristiesInc) March 17, 2015late 13th century - The Holder of the Thunderbolt
2016 SOLD for HK$ 49M including premium
On November 29 in Hong Kong, Bonhams sells a spectacular Tibetan statue of Vajrapani of extreme rarity, lot 108 estimated HK $ 22M. It is unique in its kind by its large size and superb condition.
Vajrapani is the appropriation of Indra by Buddhism. He holds the thunderbolt which takes the feature of a diamond scepter capable of ripping any material or enemy. The Buddhism tames the violence of the terrible warrior into an uncompromising defender of its moral teachings.
The 1.05 m high statue for sale is an assembly of six pieces of cast brass alloy inlaid with copper. The joints are positioned so as to remain invisible to the faithful. The oversized head is painted with cold gold and white and orange pigments. The hollow structure is closed in the back by a plate enabling to preserve ritual offerings.
By comparison of style with a Yuan stone stele showing the same figure, this statue may be dated from the late thirteenth century of our calendar. The turquoise and coral insets are later.
The artist has done everything to symbolize a fierce power : massive proportions, raised arm brandishing the lightning, knee bent by the warrior in action, lower garment decorated with tiger skin, wild facial expression, wide open bulging eyes, flaming beard, and the long fangs at the corners of the mouth.
Please watch the video shared by Bonhams.
Vajrapani is the appropriation of Indra by Buddhism. He holds the thunderbolt which takes the feature of a diamond scepter capable of ripping any material or enemy. The Buddhism tames the violence of the terrible warrior into an uncompromising defender of its moral teachings.
The 1.05 m high statue for sale is an assembly of six pieces of cast brass alloy inlaid with copper. The joints are positioned so as to remain invisible to the faithful. The oversized head is painted with cold gold and white and orange pigments. The hollow structure is closed in the back by a plate enabling to preserve ritual offerings.
By comparison of style with a Yuan stone stele showing the same figure, this statue may be dated from the late thirteenth century of our calendar. The turquoise and coral insets are later.
The artist has done everything to symbolize a fierce power : massive proportions, raised arm brandishing the lightning, knee bent by the warrior in action, lower garment decorated with tiger skin, wild facial expression, wide open bulging eyes, flaming beard, and the long fangs at the corners of the mouth.
Please watch the video shared by Bonhams.
Three treasured masterpieces Of #TibetanArt to be offered at #Bonhams #ImagesOfDevotion sale In HongKong 29 Nov. https://t.co/YT0LaQztnM pic.twitter.com/AwUvcDZ2XY
— BONHAMS (@bonhams1793) October 3, 2016
Bonhams HK inaugural #HimalayanArt auction views in NY, w/ pieces from Ulrich von Schroeder https://t.co/OunAr7ZpIA pic.twitter.com/QydYDEGqjZ
— BONHAMS (@bonhams1793) August 28, 2016
1627-1628 Indian inscribed diamond in a 1972 necklace assembly by Cartier
2011 SOLD for $ 8.8M including premium by Christie's
The ideal art, which makes the whole world dream, must evoke love, death and wealth at the same time. Adding elegance and monumentality, I described the Taj Mahal, the mausoleum of the beloved wife of Shah Jahan.
In 1972, for Elizabeth Taylor's 40th birthday, Richard Burton humorously declares that he would have liked to offer her the Taj Mahal but that the monument was not transportable. The real gift is an evocation of it : a Mughal piece of jewelry, which Burton had bought for around £ 350K.
This jewel is centered with a large heart-shaped diamond inserted in a surrounding of same shape in red stones, jade and small diamonds. The diamond is inscribed in Persian : Nur Jahan Baygum Padshah, 23, 1037. The ribbon for using it as a pendant is faded. Liz Taylor has it replaced by Cartier with a gold chain terminated by a fraying of gold threads bearing rubies.
In the Hegira calendar, 1037, corresponding to 1627 CE, is the year of Jahangir's death in the 23rd year of his reign and thus marks the end of the long recency of his wife Nur Jahan. Shah Jahan is the son and successor of Jahangir.
On December 13, 2011, in the auction by Christie's of Elizabeth Taylor's estate, this jewel designated as the Taj Mahal was sold for $ 8.8M including premium from a lower estimate of $ 300K, lot 56.
After the sale, the buyer, who remained anonymous, understands that there is no evidence that the Taj Mahal jewel was ever in the hands of Jahangir or Shah Jahan. He is an important customer and Christie's is attempting to cancel the sale of this lot. The trust in charge of the actress's estate opposed it in 2015 and 2017 by legal complaints, arguing the absence of irregularity. The end of the story is not known.
In 1972, for Elizabeth Taylor's 40th birthday, Richard Burton humorously declares that he would have liked to offer her the Taj Mahal but that the monument was not transportable. The real gift is an evocation of it : a Mughal piece of jewelry, which Burton had bought for around £ 350K.
This jewel is centered with a large heart-shaped diamond inserted in a surrounding of same shape in red stones, jade and small diamonds. The diamond is inscribed in Persian : Nur Jahan Baygum Padshah, 23, 1037. The ribbon for using it as a pendant is faded. Liz Taylor has it replaced by Cartier with a gold chain terminated by a fraying of gold threads bearing rubies.
In the Hegira calendar, 1037, corresponding to 1627 CE, is the year of Jahangir's death in the 23rd year of his reign and thus marks the end of the long recency of his wife Nur Jahan. Shah Jahan is the son and successor of Jahangir.
On December 13, 2011, in the auction by Christie's of Elizabeth Taylor's estate, this jewel designated as the Taj Mahal was sold for $ 8.8M including premium from a lower estimate of $ 300K, lot 56.
After the sale, the buyer, who remained anonymous, understands that there is no evidence that the Taj Mahal jewel was ever in the hands of Jahangir or Shah Jahan. He is an important customer and Christie's is attempting to cancel the sale of this lot. The trust in charge of the actress's estate opposed it in 2015 and 2017 by legal complaints, arguing the absence of irregularity. The end of the story is not known.
1650 Mughal Silk Woven Pashmina Carpet
2022 SOLD for £ 5.4M by Christie's
From the early 17th century, some English visitors to the Mughal empire used to commission magnificent carpets to decorate their luxury houses.
The earlier designs were based on Persian carpets. Around 1650 the fashion for Mughal carpets of North India began to be a lattice with floral forms enclosed within each compartment. The flower had been introduced in Indian art in 1620 when Jahangir, delighted by a spring visit in Kashmir, required painted herbals.
An early carpet in splendid although incomplete condition with a large scale lattice was sold for £ 5.4M from a lower estimate of £ 2.5M by Christie's on October 27, 2022, lot 200. The weave is extremely fine with an average of 672 knots per square inch. It has been shortened from about 440 cm long to a 275 cm square, arguably to get rid of damaged areas. Three additional fragments are known. The fringes are missing.
It is made over a silk foundation of a pile of pashmina wool of Himalayan goat woven with silk warp and weft. The warp threads are blue, green, red and ivory, and the weft is scarlet red. The pile is a deep and brilliant crimson red.
The cartouches formed by twisting leafy vines enclose blooming flowers. The edge is made of similar patterns.
The earlier designs were based on Persian carpets. Around 1650 the fashion for Mughal carpets of North India began to be a lattice with floral forms enclosed within each compartment. The flower had been introduced in Indian art in 1620 when Jahangir, delighted by a spring visit in Kashmir, required painted herbals.
An early carpet in splendid although incomplete condition with a large scale lattice was sold for £ 5.4M from a lower estimate of £ 2.5M by Christie's on October 27, 2022, lot 200. The weave is extremely fine with an average of 672 knots per square inch. It has been shortened from about 440 cm long to a 275 cm square, arguably to get rid of damaged areas. Three additional fragments are known. The fringes are missing.
It is made over a silk foundation of a pile of pashmina wool of Himalayan goat woven with silk warp and weft. The warp threads are blue, green, red and ivory, and the weft is scarlet red. The pile is a deep and brilliant crimson red.
The cartouches formed by twisting leafy vines enclose blooming flowers. The edge is made of similar patterns.
Mughal Cotton Woven Pashmina Carpet
2013 SOLD for £ 4.8M by Christie's
Mughal carpets are considered as the masterpieces from the textiles of India. One of them had remained during a century in the Vanderbilt family where it was highlighted by prolonged exposure in places of honor of the mansions.
Measuring 388 x 411 cm, it has a classic repetitive decor with a star lattice and anticipates the millefleurs fashion of the 18th century. The drawing of the edge is a later design. It was woven about 300 years ago in North India, but its appeal is largely due to the fact that it is not oldest, once will not hurt !
Indeed, the great ancient silk woven Mughal carpets are most often significantly degraded. The Vanderbilt specimen is woven in cotton, in ivory color for the warp and blue for the weft. The upper layer or pile with the decorative pattern is in pashmina which is a wool from Kashmir. This magnificent piece of textile in very good condition keeps both its suppleness and its strength.
It was sold for £ 4.8M from a lower estimate of £ 1.5M by Christie's on October 8, 2013, lot 50. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
Measuring 388 x 411 cm, it has a classic repetitive decor with a star lattice and anticipates the millefleurs fashion of the 18th century. The drawing of the edge is a later design. It was woven about 300 years ago in North India, but its appeal is largely due to the fact that it is not oldest, once will not hurt !
Indeed, the great ancient silk woven Mughal carpets are most often significantly degraded. The Vanderbilt specimen is woven in cotton, in ivory color for the warp and blue for the weft. The upper layer or pile with the decorative pattern is in pashmina which is a wool from Kashmir. This magnificent piece of textile in very good condition keeps both its suppleness and its strength.
It was sold for £ 4.8M from a lower estimate of £ 1.5M by Christie's on October 8, 2013, lot 50. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
As Beautiful as Blue Feathers
2018 SOLD for HK$ 117M including premium
The rarity of blue sapphires from Kashmir has a well identified cause : their unique vein in the mountains was exhausted in 1887 after seven years of mining. Their saturated color, velvety texture and brilliance are unique.
The constitution of a collection to make a necklace is a patient work that can extend over several generations. After being cut into a homogeneous shape, the stones are assembled in a sequence of gradual dimensions.
On November 27 in Hong Kong, Christie's sells the Peacock Necklace, lot 2068 estimated HK $ 95M. Please watch the video shared by the auction house, revealing that it took almost a hundred years to gather the gems and more than fifteen years to prepare the jewel.
On a platinum necklace 39.5 cm long, 21 Kashmir sapphires are interspersed with white diamonds. All these stones have a cushion shape. The weight of the sapphires ranges between 10.56 and 3.02 carats for a total of 109.08 carats which is staggering in their class. The diamonds are between 4 and 1 carats.
On April 7, 2014, Sotheby's sold for HK $ 77M including premium the Red Emperor, a necklace of pigeon's blood rubies assembled in 2013 amidst diamonds after being collected by a specialized company created in 1905. As for the Peacock Necklace, the utmost care had been taken in the homogeneity of the prestigious color.
The constitution of a collection to make a necklace is a patient work that can extend over several generations. After being cut into a homogeneous shape, the stones are assembled in a sequence of gradual dimensions.
On November 27 in Hong Kong, Christie's sells the Peacock Necklace, lot 2068 estimated HK $ 95M. Please watch the video shared by the auction house, revealing that it took almost a hundred years to gather the gems and more than fifteen years to prepare the jewel.
On a platinum necklace 39.5 cm long, 21 Kashmir sapphires are interspersed with white diamonds. All these stones have a cushion shape. The weight of the sapphires ranges between 10.56 and 3.02 carats for a total of 109.08 carats which is staggering in their class. The diamonds are between 4 and 1 carats.
On April 7, 2014, Sotheby's sold for HK $ 77M including premium the Red Emperor, a necklace of pigeon's blood rubies assembled in 2013 amidst diamonds after being collected by a specialized company created in 1905. As for the Peacock Necklace, the utmost care had been taken in the homogeneity of the prestigious color.
1880s Blue Sapphires from a High Place
2015 SOLD for HK$ 52M including premium
The discovery of the most beautiful variety of sapphires was by accident. In 1881, a merchant brought from the northwestern Himalayas to Simla a piece of blue stone harder than quartz. Other specimens came down from the mountain and at the beginning of the following year a mineralogist of the Indian Museum found that these were true sapphires.
These Kashmir sapphires are sensational in their saturated color, their transparency and their velvety surface. This balance is obtained by the presence of various impurities in the crystal of corundum : tourmaline, pragasite, zircon, allanite, biotite, garnet and even a natural radioactive tracer, the uraninite. Such a mixing is unique and allows to certify the origin of a sapphire without any information about its history.
Back to the early 1880s. The deposit that had been recently laid bare by a landslide is located in a valley of high altitude that required a week of approach walk. The value of these gems is not immediately understood but the local maharajah is able to control the extraction. In 1888, a geologist delegated by the maharajah finds that the vein is already depleted.
This ephemeral mine produced some big sapphires that reach their whole splendor through an emerald shaped cut in a circle of diamonds. One of them weighing 28.18 carats was sold for $ 5.1 million including premium by Sotheby's on April 29, 2014.
Another sapphire in a similar fashioning is named The Jewel of Kashmir. It weighs 27.68 carats and is estimated HK $ 48M for sale by Sotheby's in Hong Kong on October 7, lot 1860. Nature achieved the perfect balance between velvety and transparency, in a stunning royal blue hue altogether homogeneous and saturated.
These Kashmir sapphires are sensational in their saturated color, their transparency and their velvety surface. This balance is obtained by the presence of various impurities in the crystal of corundum : tourmaline, pragasite, zircon, allanite, biotite, garnet and even a natural radioactive tracer, the uraninite. Such a mixing is unique and allows to certify the origin of a sapphire without any information about its history.
Back to the early 1880s. The deposit that had been recently laid bare by a landslide is located in a valley of high altitude that required a week of approach walk. The value of these gems is not immediately understood but the local maharajah is able to control the extraction. In 1888, a geologist delegated by the maharajah finds that the vein is already depleted.
This ephemeral mine produced some big sapphires that reach their whole splendor through an emerald shaped cut in a circle of diamonds. One of them weighing 28.18 carats was sold for $ 5.1 million including premium by Sotheby's on April 29, 2014.
Another sapphire in a similar fashioning is named The Jewel of Kashmir. It weighs 27.68 carats and is estimated HK $ 48M for sale by Sotheby's in Hong Kong on October 7, lot 1860. Nature achieved the perfect balance between velvety and transparency, in a stunning royal blue hue altogether homogeneous and saturated.
#AuctionUpdate from HK: This 27.68-carat sapphire ring achieves $6.7m, a record price/carat for a Kashmir #sapphire pic.twitter.com/vkiz7Hc1vO
— Sotheby's (@Sothebys) October 7, 2015
1980 Abstract Painting by Gaitonde
2023 SOLD for INR 47.5 crores (worth US $ 5.8M) by Saffronart
The art of V. S. Gaitonde is rare and precious by its very nature. The texture, composed of translucent layers with different hues of a single color, is impeccable. The result is an expression of the deep meditation of this artist influenced by Zen and looking for philosophy, life and truth.
The art of Gaitonde often appears as an encounter with water wrapped in mist. Areas looking like reflections bring a semblance of perspective contradicted by the structuring of the canvas in horizontal zones. The elements that seem to float have an indistinguishable nature that strengthens the mystical dimension of the message.
The abstraction of Gaitonde is not only an expression of nature. His almost systematic choice of vertical formats from the mid-1960s brings a bottom up vision leading to heaven and emotion. He leaves to others the figuration : no being, no human construction will disturb his ineffable art of silence.
Gaitonde was a quiet man who deliberately avoided the fame. His art is not sufficiently recognized internationally. However, he expresses the relationship of man and ground as Pollock did, he translates the subtlety of his inner self like Zao Wou-ki, he captures the emotion of the viewer like Rothko and his technique anticipates the squeegee of Richter.
V.S. Gaitonde returned from New York in 1965 after a Rockefeller Fund fellowship during which he had met Rothko in his studio. He develops his own way by gradually eliminating all superfluous elements for his expressionist interpretation of nature.
He thus removes the contours of forms, the pseudo-calligraphic and symbolic signs, the illusions of perspective. Oil on canvas becomes his only technique. The artwork becomes monochrome in an immutable vertical format. Yet each opus is different from the previous one, in a search for continuous improvement that rejects chance and feelings.
After a superposition of transparent layers of which the artist has not revealed the detailed process, the roller, the brush and the knife create variations of brilliance in a global geometric balance. Gaitonde seeks, in his own words, the absorption of silences, bringing a visual musicality. He observes a similarity of his approach to Buddhist Zen which considers that the open space must be filled by the mind.
After the patient meditation and the quick execution, the third and final phase is contemplation. If the musicality of silence suits the artist, he keeps the work in his studio for a possible public use. If not, he scraps it. And he starts again with a new canvas.
All these elements converge in a 153 x 102 cm oil on canvas painted in 1979, sold on December 19, 2013 by Christie's for INR 23.7 crores worth US$ 3.8M, lot 63.
This example marks an abandonment of the illusion of landscape in favor of a sort of calligraphy that will become sharper, and therefore less mesmerizing, in his later career. The choice of color is sumptuous between gold and brown.
An oil on canvas 163 x 100 cm painted in 1980 was sold for INR 47.5 crores (worth US $ 5.8M) from a lower estimate of INR 22 crores by Saffronart on March 16, 2023, lot 13. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
Pseudo-biomorphic and pseudo-hieroglyphic forms float in symmetry around the vertical central axis over a vivid golden yellow background, in the period quest by the artist to express the silence specially represented by the central dark circle.
The art of Gaitonde often appears as an encounter with water wrapped in mist. Areas looking like reflections bring a semblance of perspective contradicted by the structuring of the canvas in horizontal zones. The elements that seem to float have an indistinguishable nature that strengthens the mystical dimension of the message.
The abstraction of Gaitonde is not only an expression of nature. His almost systematic choice of vertical formats from the mid-1960s brings a bottom up vision leading to heaven and emotion. He leaves to others the figuration : no being, no human construction will disturb his ineffable art of silence.
Gaitonde was a quiet man who deliberately avoided the fame. His art is not sufficiently recognized internationally. However, he expresses the relationship of man and ground as Pollock did, he translates the subtlety of his inner self like Zao Wou-ki, he captures the emotion of the viewer like Rothko and his technique anticipates the squeegee of Richter.
V.S. Gaitonde returned from New York in 1965 after a Rockefeller Fund fellowship during which he had met Rothko in his studio. He develops his own way by gradually eliminating all superfluous elements for his expressionist interpretation of nature.
He thus removes the contours of forms, the pseudo-calligraphic and symbolic signs, the illusions of perspective. Oil on canvas becomes his only technique. The artwork becomes monochrome in an immutable vertical format. Yet each opus is different from the previous one, in a search for continuous improvement that rejects chance and feelings.
After a superposition of transparent layers of which the artist has not revealed the detailed process, the roller, the brush and the knife create variations of brilliance in a global geometric balance. Gaitonde seeks, in his own words, the absorption of silences, bringing a visual musicality. He observes a similarity of his approach to Buddhist Zen which considers that the open space must be filled by the mind.
After the patient meditation and the quick execution, the third and final phase is contemplation. If the musicality of silence suits the artist, he keeps the work in his studio for a possible public use. If not, he scraps it. And he starts again with a new canvas.
All these elements converge in a 153 x 102 cm oil on canvas painted in 1979, sold on December 19, 2013 by Christie's for INR 23.7 crores worth US$ 3.8M, lot 63.
This example marks an abandonment of the illusion of landscape in favor of a sort of calligraphy that will become sharper, and therefore less mesmerizing, in his later career. The choice of color is sumptuous between gold and brown.
An oil on canvas 163 x 100 cm painted in 1980 was sold for INR 47.5 crores (worth US $ 5.8M) from a lower estimate of INR 22 crores by Saffronart on March 16, 2023, lot 13. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
Pseudo-biomorphic and pseudo-hieroglyphic forms float in symmetry around the vertical central axis over a vivid golden yellow background, in the period quest by the artist to express the silence specially represented by the central dark circle.
