V.S. Gaitonde

Achievements of Vasudev S. Gaitonde

Vasudev S. Gaitonde was considered as one of the cloistered and best abstract painters of India. He impressed the members of the Progressive Artists Group of Bombay and was called upon to be a part of the group. He turned to be an active member of this group. There are a number of exhibitions to his name both in India and foreign countries. He never supported the collective but backed an individual; it was the key feature of his artistic creativity. A strong belief in his individuality as a painter was accompanied by his non-conformist nature. He made himself secluded at a very early stage of his career from things in his surroundings. He referred to these things as extraneous to his self as a painter. His development over the years is marked by a mounting inwardness and a painstaking and attentive consolidation of this individuality. Vasudev.S. Gaitonde was the first contemporary Indian painter whose work fetched INR 92 lakhs at the Osians art auction. Achievements of Vasudev S. Gaitonde are considered amongst India's foremost abstract and ethereal works of art.

Early Life

Vasudev S. Gaitonde was born in Nagpur, Maharashtra in 1924 to Goan Parents.

Education and Career

V.S. Gaitonde received his diploma from Sir J. J. School of Art in 1948 with the fellowship of a globally reputed painter from Goa, Francis Newton Sousa. He contributed a lot to the 'Progressive Artist Group', with an extensive responsiveness to split away from the past. He aimed at an approach repressively weighed down by colonial academism and corny Indianess. Also he targeted to prepare a way for a worldwide idiom. This progress put modern art into perspective and set a velocity for vibrant art ambiance in India in the present day and age.

Style

V.S. Gaitonde made great experiments with shape and form in his works. Otherworldly and diverse paintings of Gaitonde appeal to an obscure and concealed description of the genuine world. The artist, however greatly ignored the name of ‘abstractionist’ conferred upon him. Very deep impact of ancient calligraphy and Zen philosophy is visible in his artworks. Amidst his creative compositions on canvas, you can see the conglomerated and controlled surface depicted in a fine manner. Whereas the contemporaries of Gaitonde did not take pleasure in meticulous and slow paintings, Gaitonde enjoyed the same. This is the reason why the number of his fashioned works is a little. He has used symbolic elements and very less ground lines. This has turned his works flawless. A look at his works makes art aficionados think of artists like Joan Miró and Paul Klee. He did his studies under these artists during his college days. Admirers of V. S. Gaitonde used to address him as a painter of quite reaches of the imagination. He is one of the ultimate emergences of brilliant and simmering artist having some undiscovered thought in his mind. He never conceptually refereed himself as a painter who deals in abstraction. On the other hand he addresses his artworks as non-objective which is a kind of calligraphic inventions and personalized hieroglyphics. They evoke the surface painted on with the most astounding intuitions. The thoughtful Zen quality becomes obvious in his language. Emoting calm is best exemplified in his works because peace is meaningful and eternal in itself. It is from this point that one tends to make out the inexplicable motifs, the highly tailored and adapted hieroglyphs in Gaitonde`s canvasses along with the expression of intuitions that are invested in.

Awards and Accolades

It was in the year 1956 when he took part in the Indian art exhibition. This exhibition was held in east European countries. He was also a part of group exhibitions held at the Graham art gallery, New York in 1959 and 1963.
A number of Indian and foreign collections display abstract works of Vasudev S. Gaitonde that include the Museum of Modern Art in New York. At the Young Asian Artists Exhibition at Tokyo he was given the first prize in 1957. He received the Rockefeller Fellowship in the year 1964. It was in the year 1971 when he was awarded the Padma Shri which is the highest award for artistic excellence bestowed upon artists by the Government of India.
Achievements of Vasudev S. Gaitonde showcase his unparalleled ingenuity. He makes the viewers just fix their eyes on at his artworks. His paintings correspond to a spectacular fantasy of color, form, and painting as well. This artist has the talent to make uncomplicated objects to turn into sacred elements. V. S. Gaitonde had incredible talent and dexterity in shading. This makes his work appear like a never ending chasm. He widely makes use of a palette knife and a roller, to methodically manipulate and blend various mediums on the canvas. His works of art seem to sublime with every element which evaporates in one or the other form. His abstract paintings with their simple beams of light stir up concealed profundity. His art work appears to glow with a contemplative allure with huge planar surfaces and delicate layers of paint on the canvas. His paintings carry an aspect of light which seems to be comprehensive in it. His work crafts up tinctures and later on they are cautiously detached for the preferred achieve that is always created by V. S. Gaitonde. He breathed his last in 2001.