110-111 / 192
110
111
T
he present lot reflects Souza’s preoccupation
with the Roman Catholic church and the strict
religious upbringing of his childhood. “As a child
I was fascinated by the grandeur of the church and by
the stories of tortured saints my grandmother used to
tell me. As far as I can recollect, strange fancies always
occupied my mind... The Roman Catholic church had a
tremendous influence over me, not its dogmas but its
grand architecture and the splendour of its services...
The wooden saints painted with gold and bright colours
staring vacantly out of their niches.” (F N Souza,
Words
& Lines
, London: Villiers Publications Ltd., 1959, pp. 9‒10)
Souza keeps some of the gold and overall colour scheme
associated with the iconography of Catholic medieval
paintings, but denies the figure any sense of compassion
typically befitting a saint. The present lot, like many of
Souza’s paintings of Christ and similar religious figures
of that time, “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.” (Yashodhara Dalmia,
The Making of
Modern Indian Art: The Progressives
, New Delhi: Oxford
University Press, 2001, p. 80)
The Herald
, 1961
Saffronart, 6‒7 June 2017, lot 39
Sold for INR 2.11 crores ($330,012)
Christ on Palm Sunday
, 1959
Saffronart, New Delhi, 8 September
2016, lot 22
Sold for INR 2.64 crores ($400,000)
PROPERTY OF A DISTINGUISHED GENTLEMAN, MUMBAI
75
F N SOUZA
(1924 ‒ 2002)
Head of a Saint
Inscribed and dated 'F.N. SOUZA/ 1959/ HEAD OF A
SAINT' (on the reverse)
1959
Oil on board
23 x 15 in (58.4 x 38.1 cm)
$ 93,750 ‒ 125,000
Rs 60,00,000 ‒ 80,00,000
PROVENANCE:
Private Collection, New Delhi
Saffronart, 12 February 2015, lot 2