Global Gaitonde

The jury's still out on which painting by V S Gaitonde was better - one auctioned by Sotheby's New York as part of the Amaya collection in March for Rs 5.4 crore (against a high estimate of Rs 4.5 crore), or by Christie's, same time, same place, for Rs 3.9 crore (against a high estimate of Rs 2.8 crore) - but already the next rollout is in place for June in London when the two auction houses will clash with more works by the master who, in 2013, is having a better year than most. He was the only Indian artist to be displayed by Christie's ahead of its auction of Asian art at a glamorous evening sale in Hong Kong last month, a lyrical composition that many imagined to be Chinese till they read the label. A 1962 work, Painting No. 4, is in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York. And now, the Guggenheim is putting together a retrospective on the artist in 2014 for which curator Sandhini Poddar is sourcing works from collectors in America, Europe and, of course, India. Intended to open in November, it is hoped the exhibition will travel to the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art, Guggenheim Abu Dhabi and, if we get lucky, the National Gallery of Modern Art in Delhi. Not only is Gaitonde getting his due, he's well on his way, say analysts, to being positioned alongside peers from around the world. The "Indian" appellate before his name might soon be rendered obsolete as he is feted among his contemporaries of the time.

But Gaitonde was perhaps global long before this, if the discovery of his work in an American collection that is up for sale at Sotheby's this month is any indication. Those who sell art love a good story, but the discovery of Painting No. 1 almost makes for mythology. Thought to be part of a series of canvases Gaitonde had brought with him to sell in America in the early 1960s, it was acquired by John D Rockefeller III. Recently found, even its original frame remains intact - it comes with an estimate of Rs 2.2-4 crore at the Sotheby's sale in London. Christie's, meanwhile, is offering two paintings (at values of Rs 4.4-6.1 crore and Rs 1.7-3.5 crore respectively), but for those who aspire to a Gaitonde without the necessary funds, there are three lithographs which you could swing for approximately Rs 5 lakh - a value that could net you a small Krishen Khanna bandwallah, or Anjolie Ela Menon head, should you prefer comparisons.

Gaitonde first exhibited in New York in 1959, and subsequently in 1963, where his works drew the attention of the John D Rockefeller III Fund, offering him a yearlong fellowship in the city in 1964, which was followed by a solo exhibition at Willard Gallery in 1965 when a critic described his work as "non-objective" - a term Gaitonde was to favour through his lifetime, insisting there was no such thing as abstract art. A meticulous and exacting artist, he would apply layers of translucent paint to give his canvases luminous depth, and was famously disagreeable to painting prolifically, which is responsible for the current demand since a possible drought looms ahead as his works move into collections that would be loath to recycle them any time soon. That could be the reason why his prices have remained hard and can only strengthen as his buyer base moves from the Indian to the global. Should the Chinese develop an interest in him - as some expect - they might then rise faster than any other Indian artist.

Kishore Singh is a Delhi-based writer and art critic. These views are personal and do not reflect those of the organisation with which he is associated