In This Issue
Artist in focus: V.S. Gaitonde
Art History: Cubism
Editor's Note
This issue focuses on art and artists of the abstract and experimental world. I hope that the readers not only enjoy their read but also gain insights into the sensibilities of creating and exploring art.
-Gyanvi Uppal, September 2021
#ARTIST IN FOCUS
"Everything starts from silence.
The silence of the brush. The silence of the canvas.
The silence of the painting knife. The painter starts by absorbing all these silences.
You are not partial in the sense that no one part of you is working there.
Your entire being is.
Your entire being is working with the brush, the painting knife, the canvas to absorb that silence and create."
V.S. Gaitonde in an interview with Pritish Nandy, "The Forgotten Master',
The Illustrated Weekly of India, September 7-13, 1991.
Vasudeo Santu Gaitonde (1924-2001), famously known as V.S. Gaitonde, is one of the most celebrated Indian abstract artists. Though he often showed disdain when labeled to be an abstract expressionist(or in fact at any label). His boldness in choosing this form for his artistic expression is rather rare in the Indian subcontinent. Gaitonde who was named to be ‘The Silent Observer’ has the knack to completely absorb the viewer in his highly intuitive work of art. This extremely private man grew up in Nagpur and studied at the J. J. School of Art. In 1947, he was invited to join the Progressive Artists’ Group (PAG), of which Maqbool Fida Husain and Syed Haider Raza were also prominent members, and went on to become one of its leading figures. After a few years, though, he distanced himself from any such collectives. Gaitonde wasn't an artist of the groups, he liked to stand alone, experimenting with deeply subjective nuances.
"These vertical arrangements are essentially Gaitonde. The studs of colour form a spinal cord, and there is a vertebra of vibrancy. This is magic-abstract art at its best. The colours feel for the forms within the spectator."
"These vertical arrangements are essentially Gaitonde. The studs of colour form a spinal cord, and there is a vertebra of vibrancy. This is magic-abstract art at its best. The colours feel for the forms within the spectator."
-Richard Bartholomew, ‘The Art Critic', Thought, November 26, 1960.
“Each canvas is a vast, translucent, pool of paint, a reminder that the materials available to the artist themselves surrender the maximum of values. We would be tempted to quote McLuhan and say that "the medium is the message" except for the fact that, in these paintings, the medium is not separate from the so-called content which that famous modern thinker believes to be sidetracked in any contemporary projection of the media. At this stage, Gaitonde works very meticulously with a roller. The canvas looks like an ocean; to carry the simile further, it is as if we are looking down on the mildly lapping waters of the sea near a pier and, in the half-light, gazing at things surfacing or floating in the water. The motifs in these canvases literally surface in the pool of paint, and they convey a variety of associations. While we are on the subject of half-lit seawater near the docks..”
Dnyaneshwar Nadkari, Gaitonde, The Silent Observer
#ART HISTORY: CUBISM
Cubism is an artistic movement of the early 20th century that has influenced many creative disciplines and continues to inform experimental work. The pioneers of the movement were Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque, who employed geometric shapes in depictions of humans and other forms. Over a period of time, Cubism evolved into intensely represented forms, creating a more pure level of visual abstraction. Breaking nearly every rule of traditional western painting, the work was such a huge leap from his previous blue and pink periods, which were far more representational and emotional. Wider exposure brought others to the movement. Polish artist Louis Marcossis discovered Braque’s work in 1910, and his Cubist paintings are considered to have more human quality and a lighter touch than the works of others.
- Pablo Picasso, Les Demoiselles d'Avignon(The Young Ladies of Avignon, originally titled The Brothel of Avignon), 1907, considered to be a major step towards the founding of the Cubist movement.
- Still life, Artist Georges Braque, 1926
By 1912, Picasso and Braque had begun to incorporate words in the paintings, which evolved into the collage elements that dominate the second era of Cubism, known as Synthetic Cubism. This phase was also marked by the flattening of the subjects and the brightening of colors. An offshoot movement designated Orphic Cubism centered on the Puteaux Group collective. Formed in 1913 by French painter Jacques Villon and his brother, sculptor Raymond Duchamp-Villon, this branch embraced even brighter hues and augmented abstraction. World War I effectively halted Cubism as an organized movement, with a number of artists, including Braque, getting called up for duty. By 1917, Picasso returned his practice of injecting more realism into his paintings, though his refusal to be pinned down to Cubism, it reappeared in some works over the years, such as The Three Musicians (1921) and The Weeping Woman (1937), a response to the Spanish Civil War. Though Cubism never regained its place as an organized force in the art world, its vast influence has continued in art movements like Futurism, Constructivism, Abstract Expressionism, and others.
To read the full article visit: "Cubism History". 2021. HISTORY. https://www.history.com/topics/art-history/history-of- cubism.
Informative and nicely compiled pieces.
Loved it!