Osian's Auction Catalogue Indian Antiquities Modern Contemporary Fine Arts and Books | April 2017

74 F. N. Souza 1924-2002 Landscape Acrylic on canvas, 1986 S/d in English ‘Souza 86’ t.l. 27.2 x 46.1 in (69.0 x 117.0 cm) Provenance The Collection of Madhusudan Kushary, National Award winning artist, animal & environmental activist, Nainital, Uttarakhand; acquired directly from the artist F.N. Souza INR 4,000,000 – 6,000,000 USD 59,700 – 89,550 Full double-spread image on pp.160-161 Lots 74 to 76 Properties formerly from the Collection of Madhusudan Kushary, National Award Winning Artist, Animal & Environmental Activist, Nainital, Uttarakhand ‘Souza is an image-maker – like Rouault and Francis Bacon. His art lies in his power to strengthen the eye’s image of this world by distorting it, until it becomes merely the language by which his own mental images are expressed, and the common ground on which we may come to terms with them. For, although Souza is a figurative painter, nothing about his art is descriptive; there is no celebration of nature, no attempt to capture the effect of a sunset, no concern whatsoever with what is “particular” in life. Above all, there is nothing romantic about his paintings…. – Edwin Mullins rpt. in F.N. Souza Kumar Gallery ExC 1961 “Souza is a painter of cityscapes and religious themes. While the latter is loaded with a troubled presentiment, in the former he is singularly devoid of emotive inhibitions. Unlike the cityscapes of Ramkumar 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 stolidly in enamelled petrifaction or delineated in thin colours with calligraphic intonations, the cityscapes of Souza are purely plastic entities with no reference to memories or mirrors.” – J. Swaminathan, quoted in Neville Tuli, The Flamed Mosaic (Mumbai: HEART and Mapin, 1997), 109. “As seen in other works, Souza’s landscapes vary from linear blocks to almost abstract colourful shapes with trees in the foreground to offset the geometric lines. The celebrated painter Swaminathan has described Souza’s cityscapes as “singularly devoid of emotive inhibitions… they are the congealed visions of a mysterious world. The cityscapes of Souza are purely plastic entities with no reference to memories or mirrors” (Lalit Kala Contemporary No.40, 1995). This is a personal and interesting viewpoint and yet it is not entirely correct to suggest that Souza’s cityscapes have no reference to memories. The buildings here painted in 1961 could easily be reflections of the crowded places of Bombay.” – Kurtha, Aziz, Francis Newton Souza: Bridging Western and Indian Modern Art (Ahmedabad, India: Mapin Publishing Pvt. Ltd., 2006), 118. 158 | Osian’s–Connoisseurs of Art