F N Souza
(1924 - 2002)
Untitled
“Renaissance painters painted men and women making them look like angels…I paint for angels, to show them what men and women really look like” (as quoted in Edwin Mullins, Souza, Anthony Blond Ltd., London, 1962, p. 82).
Painted in 1959, this vivid portrait is representative of Souza’s strongest and most disturbing vision of man and society. Drawing from Spanish Romanesque portraiture, Catholic icons, and the works of artists...
“Renaissance painters painted men and women making them look like angels…I paint for angels, to show them what men and women really look like” (as quoted in Edwin Mullins, Souza, Anthony Blond Ltd., London, 1962, p. 82).
Painted in 1959, this vivid portrait is representative of Souza’s strongest and most disturbing vision of man and society. Drawing from Spanish Romanesque portraiture, Catholic icons, and the works of artists like Soutine and Rouault that he encountered in London’s museums and galleries in the early 1950s, Souza fashioned a strong and unique artistic vocabulary that could carry the biting wit and social commentary of these portraits. Characterized by an icon-like confrontational frontality and clearly defined with thick black lines, his images of saints and suited men, representative of the fall of religion and society, are some of the artist’s most powerful works.
Wearing an almost gaudy orange and fuchsia coat, the subject in this piece perhaps represents the self-indulgences and decadence of the wealthy and powerful, who, for Souza, were as hypocritical and insincere as their counterparts in the clergy. Although he stands against a dark backdrop, which seems to be stacked with books lined up in rows, this figure does not appear erudite or empathetic. Rather, his gaunt frame and chisel-like head have an almost sculptural quality to them, suggesting a stony, impassive disposition.
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Lot
11
of
100
WINTER AUCTION 2010
8-9 DECEMBER 2010
Estimate
$120,000 - 150,000
Rs 51,60,000 - 64,50,000
Winning Bid
$201,250
Rs 86,53,750
(Inclusive of Buyer's Premium)
USD payment only.
Why?
ARTWORK DETAILS
F N Souza
Untitled
Signed and dated in English (lower left and verso)
1959
Oil on board
48 x 23.5 in (121.9 x 59.7 cm)
Category: Painting
Style: Figurative
ARTWORK SIZE:
Height of Figure: 6'