Osian's Auction Catalogue Masterpieces and Museum-Quality III | March 2004

117 MASTERPIECES & MUSEUM-QUALITY III 52 FRANCIS NEWTON SOUZA (1924–2002 / b. Saligao, Goa) Woman S/d in English t.l. Oil on canvas, 1961 128.8 x 78.5 cm (50.7 x 30.9 in) Restoration work has been carried out by Kayan Marshall Pundole in Mumbai, January 2004. Rs. 3,500,000 – 4,000,000 US$ 77,800 – 88,900 GB£ 42,700 – 48,800 OSIANs S.I.R. ANALYSIS [1992–2003] Present Estimate 2,234.09 Previous Highs 2,235.33 [So.Lon/17.06.99] 2,013.70 [Sa.com/04.12.03] Average: 2003* 1,273.6 [For works on canvas dated between 1950-70s sold during 2003] Previous Average 364.98 [All works, sold between 1992–2003] Auction Average 289.84 Opinion Francis Newton Souza will soon be acknowledged as one of the truly great artists of the world, not just India. As the perception of this gains credibility one expects the very best works of Souza to become the most highly priced works of Indian contemporary art. “ Painting for me is not beautiful. It is ugly as a reptile. I attack it. It coils and recoils making fascinating patterns. I am not, however, interested in patterns. Otherwise I’d spend my days watching clouds or women’s fabrics. It is the serpent in the grass that is really fascinating. Glistening, jewelled, writhing in the green grass. Poisoned fangs and cold-blooded. Slimy as squeezed paint. Green hood, white belly from chin to tail, yellow eyes, red forked tongue, slimy; careful not to put your foot on it; treacherous like satan, yet beautiful like Him.” (F.N. Souza, in ‘A Fragment of Autobiography’, rpt. in Words & Lines . London: Villiers 1959; pp.10-1.) “ His nudes are only occasionally painted as beautiful or even as graceful, and even when they are, they have little of that enigmatic composure which is a feature of classical Indian art. On the whole his paintings of nudes are more gentle than most of his other work; they have less impassioned ferocity about them. At the same time they are often the most perverse and obsessed. The inelegant sexual poses, the blunt emphasis on the pregnant belly, the ravaged face. They suggest a personal fascination with the female body, blended with an almost Swiftian disgust with its natural functions.” (Edwin Mullins, rpt. in Souza 1962; p.43.) “ Souza has often quoted the Indian tradition as a sanction for his own erotic imagery: to justify it, elevate it, and to put it into perspective. I have already pointed out Souza’s stylistic derivations from Indian sculpture, particularly its highly plastic handling which gives the figure its organic, fruit-like voluptuousness… Although Souza exorcises the shame of sin from the image of Eve, …her freedom remains, in his hands, a very doubtful proposition… (so) it is pertinent to ask whether Souza is not looking at the woman still as an agent of sin, except that now the sin has turned into delight and, as the images would testify into uncensored debauchery.” (Geeta Kapur, rpt. in Contemporary Indian Artists . 1978; pp.23-5.) Please refer to F.N. Souza EXC . Gallery One, London [1961] for illustrations & references to some of the greatest works by the artist, as with Lot 52 . Further, not to be missed is the wonderful list of nearly 200 international collectors provided in the catalogue, ranging from University College & New College (Oxford) to the National Gallery of Victoria (Australia), Haifa (Israel) & Tate Museums (London), to some of the finest connoisseurs of art, including Harold Kovner (USA; one of Souza’s foremost collectors), Lord Huntingdon, Victor Musgrave, Martin Russell, Ezra Pound, Stephen Spender, Ebrahim Alkazi, Uli Beier, Herman Goetz, Maxwell Fry, W.M. Hartwell, R. von Leyden, E. Schlesinger, Akbar Padamsee, and many more. Also please refer to Fig.4, p.18 colour illustration rpt. in Souza . London: Blond 1963. [Text by Edwin Mullins]