The art of FN Souza is a revolt against the incurable hypocrisy of society. His characters form a personal universe that meets the world of Wifredo Lam by the recurrence of forms, the efficiency of the line and the third-world violence.
Souza has not supported his Christian education. The artistic avant-garde movements that start in Bombay in 1947 were however premature. He goes into exile in London in 1949 and lives in near poverty, fortunately avoided by the help of his communist friends and an occupation in activist journalism.
A paltry autobiography published in 1955 in a magazine draws the attention to his art that begins to circulate. The American collector Harold Kovner discovered the originality and strength of Souza's artistic message. He immediately became his patron.
The artist has no longer limits to express his energy and aggressiveness, like Basquiat in a New York basement a quarter of a century later. His style does not fundamentally change, inspired by the grotesque features in Christian hagiographic portraits, but the attitudes are becoming more varied and less directly anti-religious.
Laughter is an extreme of hypocrisy for this artist who can not or will not be cool or funny. On September 10 in New Delhi, Saffronart sells Man and Woman laughing, oil on masonite 152 x 122 cm painted in 1957, lot 34 estimated Rs 15 crore equivalent to US $ 2.3M.
Souza has not supported his Christian education. The artistic avant-garde movements that start in Bombay in 1947 were however premature. He goes into exile in London in 1949 and lives in near poverty, fortunately avoided by the help of his communist friends and an occupation in activist journalism.
A paltry autobiography published in 1955 in a magazine draws the attention to his art that begins to circulate. The American collector Harold Kovner discovered the originality and strength of Souza's artistic message. He immediately became his patron.
The artist has no longer limits to express his energy and aggressiveness, like Basquiat in a New York basement a quarter of a century later. His style does not fundamentally change, inspired by the grotesque features in Christian hagiographic portraits, but the attitudes are becoming more varied and less directly anti-religious.
Laughter is an extreme of hypocrisy for this artist who can not or will not be cool or funny. On September 10 in New Delhi, Saffronart sells Man and Woman laughing, oil on masonite 152 x 122 cm painted in 1957, lot 34 estimated Rs 15 crore equivalent to US $ 2.3M.
SOLD for Rs 16.8 crore including premium
equivalent to US$ 2.6M.
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