Rare Gaitonde, MF works to be sold

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Rare paintings by Indian artists Vasudeo S. Gaitonde and Maqbool Fida Husain, who died in London almost two years ago, will be offered for sale in London in June.
A recently discovered masterpiece by Gaitonde, one of India’s most important modern abstract painters, will be sold as part of Sotheby’s modern and contemporary South Asian art sale in London on June 11.
Gaitonde’s Painting No.1, which was recently discovered, is being put on the market for the first time in 50 years. The 1962 painting, estimated at £250,000-£450,000, was acquired in New York during the 1960s and is believed to have previously been in the collection of philanthropist John D. Rockefeller III, one of the earliest western patrons of Indian modern art.
Christie’s is offering a Gaitonde painting, Untitled, which is also the largest canvas by the artist to be offered at auction and dates from the mid-1960s, as part of sale of South Asian modern and contemporary art in London on June 11. It is estimated at £500,000-700,000.
Gaitonde, who died in 2001 and produced a very limited number of paintings, will be the subject of a forthcoming retrospective at the Guggenheim Museum in New York.
Christie’s will sell Husain’s 1971 painting Ganga Jamuna, estimated at £400,000-£600,000, from the Bhownagary family collection. Jehangir “Jean” Bhownagary was the Indian government’s film advisor and producer of Husain’s award-winning 1967 film, Through the Eyes of a Painter.
Sotheby’s is offering two rare Husain paintings for sale: The first painting, oil on canvas titled Jhoola painted in 1961, is estimated to sell for £220,000-£250,000. The painting, which depicts two women atop a swing which hangs from a tree with a dark sun in the background, has been described by Sotheby’s as “a profound example of Husain’s unique amalgam of post-Independence and post-Impressionist painting.”
The second Husain painting titled, Elephants One, estimated to sell for £100,000-150,000, is also offered for sale since it was acquired by the owner’s Indian diplomat husband in New York in 1964.