Osian's Auction Catalogue Indian Modern Fine Arts | June 2017

60 F.N. Souza (1924 – 2002) The Redmonian Venus Oil on board, 1984 S/d ‘Souza 1984’ t.l. Inscribed ‘F. N. SOUZA THE REDMONIAN VENUS 1984 Oil on Board 36”x24”’ on verso 37.0 x 24.9 in (94.0 x 63.2 cm) Provenance Purchased directly from the artist by Dhoomimal Art Gallery. Illustrative Reference Full Colour Illustration in Trends & Traditions: Eighty Glorious Years . [Dhoomimal Gallery: 2017]; p.117. INR 3,600,000 – 5,400,000 USD 56,250 – 84,375 The bare-breasted, unashamedly sexual women made by Souza are by now well-known. Yet with each encounter we are faced afresh with their voluptuous sexuality. A fact often overlooked is a tenderness, bordering on a caress with which the feminine contours are drawn. Yashodhara Dalmia from ‘The Underbelly of Existence’, rpt. in The Demonic Line: An Exhibition of Drawings, 1940-1964 by Francis Newton Souza. Delhi Art Gallery ExC.2001. Why does Souza paint obscene pictures? Do I? It all depends on who looks at my pictures. I paint portraits, still lifes, landscapes also. Those who think I’m obsessed with sex are celibates, homosexuals and religious fanatics people who have an unbalanced attitude towards sex. They don’t seem to be aware that great artists have painted pornographic pictures. One of the last paintings Picasso did was of a woman pissing, derived from an etching done by Rembrandt. Raphael did a whole series of erotic paintings for a cardinal’s bedroom genitals explicitly treated. If the artist is mentally sick, his work is bound to be bad. Unfortunately the gallery- goers themselves are sick. F.N. Souza, in conversation with A.S. Raman [Times of India, 1980]; rpt. in A.S. Raman: The Critical Vision. New Delhi: LKA1993; p139. Mr. Sanchez, Ravi Jain, artist F.N. Souza and Mr. Norbert Lynton, British Art Historian Indian Modern Fine Arts | 131