Osian's Auction Catalogue Indian Modern Contemporary Fine Arts | October 2018

83 Indian Modern Contemporary Fine Arts F. N. Souza b. 12 April 1924 – d. 28 March 2002 Untitled Oil on board, 1959 27.9 x 21.6 in (70.8 x 54.8 cm) S/d ‘Souza 59’ t.l. Label ‘Chemould, 12-F, Park Street, Calcutta - 16, Tel 24- 8641’ on verso ` 4,000,000 – 6,000,000 $ 55,560 – 83,330 Provenance Acquired directly from the artist by art patron Rt. Hon’ble Sir Shadi Lal, who became the Chief Justice of Lahore High Court, the first Indian Chief Justice of any High Court in India; he was later appointed member of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in London; he was also the founder of ‘The Upper Doab Sugar Mills Limited’ which was established in 1933 (Later renamed the Sir Shadi Lal Enterprises in 1982). Thereafter inherited by his son & Chairman of Sir Shadi Lal Enterprises Lala Rajendra Lal, who in turn presented the painting to his Thailand-based business associate Shri Santosh Jain during the mid 1980s. 30 Reference A painting from the same series was sold at Sotheby’s, 19 Sept 2006, Lot 53 Untitled Oil on board, 1959 18.0 x 15.0 in Sold For USD 228,000 Souza is a painter of cityscapes and religious themes. While in the latter he is loaded with a troubled presentiment, in the former he is singularly devoid of emotive inhibitions. Unlike the cityscapes of Ram Kumar 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 solidly in enamelled putrefaction or delineated in thin calligraphic into nations, the cityscapes of Souza are purely plastic entities with no reference to memories or mirrors. Lalit Kala Contemporary Journal No.40, 1995 Detailed Artist Biography osianama.com/artists/f-n-souza