Osian's Auction Catalogue Creative India Series 1 Bengal | December 2011

F.n. s ouza 12 April 1924 – 28 March 2002 Christ Gouache on paper, 1946 S/d in English ‘Souza’46’ t.l. 16.0 x 12.0 in (40.5 x 30.3 cm) Condition Minor paint loss at few places Provenance Acquired from Kolkata-based individual collector, who acquired it directly from the artist in March 1969, when the artist visited Calcutta and stayed at their residence. ` 1,000,000 – 1,500,000 US$ 20,000 – 30,000 88 1780 1800 1820 1840 1860 1880 1900 1910 1920 1925 1930 1935 1940 1945 1950 1955 1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 2000 201 200 “Souza’s images of Christ retained a dual streak – on the one hand the thick bounding lines, the frontal images, and the stiff demeanour were iconic. On the other hand, these were harshly, even malevolently subverted without any redeeming features (pl.36). While comparisons have been made with Rouault, with whom he shared the same preoccupation with Christ, the accompanying compassion was absent in Souza’s works. (fig.32). Their humanity was totally eclipsed by a seething, writhing violence (fig.33).” [Dalmia, Yashodhara [2001]. The Making of Modern Indian Art: The Progressives. New Delhi: Oxford University Press; p.81] “It is in depicting heads that Souza introduced his most inventive features that bring to the fore his whole painterly arsenal (pl.34). His use of colour is conventional with thick, ridged strokes of paint squeezed straight from the tube on to the canvas. Their burnished quality is reminiscent of the old masters, its expressive content not fully exploited and not in cohesion with the radical quality of the subject. It is the line that is Souza’s most articulate element and he uses it with great agility to encase the form. It is a sharp, clear, virile boundary that separates negative space from positive space and by its sheer virtuosity delineates the object. ‘The outline is the scaffolding on which you hang your painting. It is the structure without which art cannot exist and becomes wishy-washy. Cezanne is nothing but structure. Within the structure you add paint, and paint and structure are one and the same. There is a totality about it.’ (F.N. Souza, 1991 speaking to the author).” [Dalmia, Yashodhara [2001]. The Making of Modern Indian Art: The Progressives. New Delhi: Oxford University Press; p.93] Creative India BENGAL | ‘Chittaprosad, the Calcutta Group, F.N. Souza & Artists of Transition 1940-50s’