Osian's Auction Catalogue The Masterpieces and Museum Quality Series | October 2004

107 THE MASTERPIECES & MUSEUM-QUALITY SERIES 71 F.N. SOUZA [1924–2002/ b . Saligao, Goa] Crucifixion Signed in English, c.l. Oil on canvas, 1986 175.2 x 177.0 cm (69.0 x 69.7 in) Rs. 4,500,000 – 5,000,000 $ 97,200 – 108,000 £ 53,250 – 59,175 ‘For Souza the religious also turns into a tale of refutation, with emphasis on the terrible but seductive aspect of the devil... “Painting for me is not beautiful. It is as ugly as a reptile. I attack it. It coils and recoils making fascinating patterns. I am not however interested in patterns... It is the serpent in the grass that is really fascinating. Glistening, jeweled writhing in the green grass. Poisoned fangs and cold-blooded.. ” The serpent it would seem is everywhere, in his crucifixions and landscapes... His vision of the world revels in this table of love and hate, running through all he does, rekindling it to life. This contradiction in terms of the seductive and the terrible is common to almost all his work.’ – Mala Marwah, rpt. in LKC 22 September1976; p5. 72 F.N. SOUZA [1924–2002/ b . Saligao, Goa] Stormy Landscape Signed in English t.l. Oil on canvas, 1989 100.4 x 151.7 cm (39.5 x 59.7 in) Rs. 3,500,000 – 4,000,000 $ 75,600 – 86,400 £ 41,425 – 47,325 ‘Souza is a painter of cityscapes and religious themes. While in the latter he is loaded with a troubled presentiment, in the former he is singularly devoid of emotive inhibitions. Unlike the cityscapes of Ram Kumar which ooze a silent melancholy and flare warmly from amidst the gloomy shadows of all-consuming time, Souza’s cityscapes are the congealed visions of a mysterious world. Whether standing solidly in enameled petrifaction or delineated in thin calligraphic into nations, the cityscapes of Souza are purely plastic entities with no reference to memories or mirrors.’ – J. Swaminathan, rpt. in LKC 40 March 1995; p41.