Osian's Auction Catalogue The Masterpieces Series | March 2010

104 60 F.n. S ouza (1924 – 2002) Untitled Pen and ink on paper, 1962 S/d in English ‘Souza 62’ t.l. 8.0 x 11.2 in (20.3 x 28.4 cm) Provenance THE OSIAN’s COLLECTION INR 300,000 – 450,000 US$ 6,250 – 9,380 “Souza is a painter of the mind. His images are conceived in a stylized form and like Picasso and Chagall he frequently refers to mythology. Therefore, there are two aspects to Souza’s works; the cloisonnic and the pictorial form of language. The cloisonnic character of Souza’s art can be discerned in the mutilated portrait studies where the human head is pierced by arrows and the contour of he mouth is diffused and distorted, giving a picture of agony…The other example of the former can be seen in various nude studies of women…The pictorial quality is of high order and the form is controlled by the proliferation of linear rhythm and finally crystallized in tonal variations of chiaroscuro to produce a plastic effect. …Souza records in his autobiography: ‘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 would have spend my days watching clouds or women’s fabrics. It is serpent in the grass that is really fascinating, listening, jeweled, writhing in the green grass. Poisoned fangs and cold-blooded. Slimly as squeezed paint…” – S. K. Bhattacharya, F. N. Souza: An Eclectic in Indian Art, rpt. in Rooplekha, 1966, pp.164-165. Exhibited and illustrated Revisualising India. Lalit Kala Academy, New Delhi, 2005. Illustrated in catalogue published by Osian’s – Connoisseurs of Art, p.70