Osian's Auction Catalogue Select Masterpieces of Indian Modern and Contemporary Art | June 2009

125 58 F.N. Souza (1924 – 2002) Evolution of Apollo Oil on canvas, 1963 S/d in English ‘Souza 63’ l.r. 54.0 x 43.2 in (137.2 x 109.5 cm) Inscribed in English ‘Evolution of Apollo, 1963, 46’’ x 54’’’ on verso INR 8,000,000 – 10,000,000 USD 166,670 – 208,330 According to Greek mythology, Apollo’s birth is seen as his emergence from beneath the earth to the sunlit surface as his mother Leto searches for a place to give birth. Souza plays with this symbolic ascent journey of Apollo, the Sun God, who also cures epidemic diseases. Also to be noted is the fact that it was in the early sixties that NASA began its historic space programme ‘Apollo’ to place man on the Moon, after John F. Kennedy’s famous proclamation on May 25, 1961. “That Souza belongs to the category of the rebel is evident from the themes and style of his paintings and from his personal behaviour. Flaming and raging through the years he has succeeded in presenting himself as the Fallen Angel driven from the Kingdom of God, as Lucifer avenging himself by rending the veil of sublimity… The rebel in this form attempts to prove, by his act of continual transgression, the need for a metaphysical insurrection in which God is blasphemed and then killed off, the better to reckon with the business of human life on earth.” – Geeta Kapur, rpt. in Contemporary Indian Artists , Vikas Publishing, 1978, p38.