EVENING SALE | LIVE, NEW DELHI (8 SEPTEMBER 2016)

Saffronart | Evening Sale

in plaited thorns.” (F N Souza,

Words and Lines

, London:

Villiers Publications Ltd., 1959, p. 10) This vivid description

manifests quite evidently in

Christ on Palm Sunday

in the

vacant stare, matted hair and plaited thorns – an image that

remained with Souza decades after his first encounters with

the Roman Catholic Church in Goa “which gave him his first

ideas of images and image‒making.” (Mullins, p. 14)

The creation of

Christ on Palm Sunday

coincides with

a golden phase in Souza’s career in London. He shot to

fame after his autobiographical essay,

Nirvana of a Maggot

was published in 1955. Around the same time, he held a

highly successful exhibition in London, organised by Victor

Musgrave, owner of Gallery One. Over the next five years,

Souza had a series of solo exhibitions at Gallery One,

where his works were purchased by enthusiastic collectors,

including one of his most important patrons, Harold Kovner.

In 1967, Souza got married and left London for the United

States. He was invited to Michigan by Eugene Schuster, who

was the owner of the newly opened London Gallery, where

he organized one of the greatest Souza shows to date. In

addition to the present lot, Schuster’s seminal show included

several significant early Souza works, including what are now

considered masterpieces –

Birth

and

Lovers –

which have set

records in recent years. The art world in the United States

however, had moved in a different direction by then, and

the Schuster show was not a success. The only painting that

sold was the present lot,

Christ on Palm Sunday

It is thus an

extremely important work, both historically in the context

of Souza’s career and also for its unique depiction of a theme

visited by artists around the world through the ages.

PROPERTY FROM AN IMPORTANT

PRIVATE COLLECTION, USA

F N SOUZA

(1924 ‒ 2002)

Christ on Palm Sunday

Signed and dated ‘Souza 59’ (upper left);

inscribed and dated ‘F.N.SOUZA / Christ

on Palm Sunday / 1959’ (on the reverse)

1959

Oil on board

50.75 x 21.75 in (129 x 55.2 cm)

Rs 2,50,00,000 ‒ 4,50,00,000

$ 378,790 ‒ 681,820

PROVENANCE:

Gallery One, London

The London Arts Group Gallery, Detroit

The Geisler Collection, Arizona; acquired

directly from the above

Titian,

Ecce Homo

, circa 1560

Guido Reni,

Christ as Ecce Homo