Description: Francis Newton Souza (Indian 1924-2002)
Vatican Cityscape
Signed and dated
Souza 65 u.r.; also signed, titled, dated, located
No 9. Belsize Park London NW 3 and numbered
11559 on verso
Oil on canvas
32 x 56-1/2 in (81.3 x 143.5 cm)Property from the Private Collection of the Souza Family
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Notes: Francis Newton Souza (1924-2002)
Francis Newton Souza known as F.N. Souza, is one of India''s most important and prestigious contemporary painters. His artwork ranks as the most expensive by an Indian artist to have sold at auction. A founder of Mumbai''s highly influential Progressive Artists'' Group, he moved to London in the late 40s. His first recognition as an artist came in 1955, when his ''Nirvana of a Maggot'' was published in Encounter magazine. Another of his books, ''Words and Lines'' received literary acclaim when it was published in 1959. He migrated to New York in 1967 and shortly thereafter received the venerable Guggenheim International Award in recognition of his timeless and priceless contribution to the art society. Inspired by Picasso, and often referred to as the "Indian Picasso", one of his more recurrent themes is that of male-female conflicts. The figures that give life to his paintings are deliberately distorted and reveal an uninhibited, realistic style. At the same time, there was a visible influence of the folk art of Goa, the Renaissance paintings as well as the European landscapes of the 18th and 19th centuries. Weschler''s is pleased to present three of his works from the Souza 1965 and 1968 collections; each displaying a wide spectrum and highlighting the regions of the globe and, in particular, his family''s aristocratic Indo-Portuguese background. Souza produced these works in Goa at the ancestral De Souza Mansions as well as his home in London. The F.N. Souza International Fine Art Foundation and Family Trust was started in memory of Francis Newton Souza over 12 years ago to preserve his legacy. All of the works are accompanied by a certificate of authenticity signed and notarized by F. N. Souza during his last family vacations in Goa and Karwar, just a year before his passing.