(1924 - 2001) V. S. Gaitonde was born in Nagpur, Maharashtra. He received his Diploma in Painting from the Sir J. J. School of Art, Mumbai, and was awarded the J. D. Rockefeller III Fund Fellowship in 1964. He was also awarded the first prize at the Young Asian Artists’ Exhibition, Tokyo, in 1957. Solo exhibitions of Gaitonde’s work include a forthcoming retrospective at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, in 2014; ‘V. S. Gaitonde Works from Private Collections’ at Saffronart, New Delhi, in 2011; ‘An Abstract Vision’ at Pundole Art Gallery, Mumbai, in 1997; and at Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi, in 1996. He has also had exhibitions in New York in 1959 and 1963, and was invited to participate in the ‘Festival of India’ at the Royal Academy of Art, London, and in Japan in 1988. Gaitonde’s work has been featured in several group shows, including ‘Roots in the Air, Branches Below Modern & Contemporary Art from India’ at the San Jose Museum of Art, 2011; ‘The Progressives & Associates’ and ‘Progressive to Altemodern’ at Grosvenor Galley, London, in 2010 and 2009 respectively; and Saffronart and Pundole Art Gallery, New York in 2001. His work is represented in several Indian and foreign collections including those of the Musuem of Modern Art, New York. He was awarded the Padma Shri by the Government of India in 1971. Gaitonde passed away in August 2001.