Francis Newton Souza
This is a collection of articles archived for the excellence of their content. |
2015
`Man and Woman Laughing': 1957 work sold for Rs16.8cr in 2015
The Times of India, Sep 12 2015
1957 Souza work sold for Rs16.8cr
That the modern masters are still capable of breathing life into a relatively lacklustre Indian art market was proved yet again when a work by the Goa-born Francis Newton Souza sold for Rs 16.84 crore at a Saffronart auction in Delhi on Thursday , creating a new record for the artist. It also became the fourth most expensive work of Indian art to be sold at an auction, after those by V S Gaitonde, S H Raza and Amrita Sher-Gil. Souza's previous best was in 2008, the height of the art boom, when a paint ing called `Birth' went for $2.5 million or Rs 10.5 crore.
The work that sold at Saffronart anniversary sale was titled `Man and Woman Laughing' (1957), and shows a couple with big, ugly teeth and allknowing eyes up in their foreheads. It's signature Souza who was as scathing with his brush as he was with his tongue. “It's a work that he painted at the height of his career. It's almost as if the man and woman have seen it all but can stand back and laugh about it, says Hugo Weihe, CEO of Saffronart.
Weihe, who recently moved from Christie's to Saffronart, was also thrilled about the results of his first auction with 90% of the lots sold out.
Two other artists also surpassed their personal best -G Ravinder Reddy (Rs 2.7 crore) and Nilima Sheikh (Rs 1.02 crore).
'Birth' sells for $4.01 m/ Rs 27cr
Source:
The Times of India, Sep 19 2015
The Times of India, Sep 19 2015, Neelam Raaj
Francis Souza's 'Birth' delivers record Rs 27cr
With $4m art record, Souza sizzles
Goa-born Francis New ton Souza's `Birth' sold for a record-breaking $4.01 million (approximately Rs 27 crore) at a Christie's sale in New York, making it the most expensive work by an Indian artist.The painting of a pregnant of a pregnant nude was bought by Delhi collector Kiran Nadar, reports Neelam Raaj.
Prices for Souza have been rising since his death in 2002 but during his lifetime, his exhibitions did poorly as collectors were queasy about his nudes.
His steamy nudes and ghoulish heads once found few takers among squeamish Indian collectors but now Francis Newton Souza has become the country's most expensive artist. The Goa-born painter's monumental work `Birth' sold for a record-breaking $4.01 million (Rs 27 crore approx) at a Christie's sale in New York. The painting -which was picked up by the Harmony Arts Foundation run by Tina Ambani, former actress and wife of Anil Ambani, for $2.5 million in 2008 -has now been bought by Delhi-based collector Kiran Nadar, who will probably showcase it in her museum. Tina Ambani didn't bring it to Mumbai, instead loaning it to the Peabody Essex Museum in the US.
The record that Souza toppled was held by his friend and fellow member of the Bombay Progressive Artist Group V S Gaitonde. The Gaitonde work had sold for $3.7 million at Christie's debut auction in Mumbai in 2013.
Souza painted Birth in 1955, and it ranks as one of his best works. Deepanjana Klein, international head of contemporary Indian art at Christie's, says the painting was part of a Guggenheim exhibition that showcased five top British artists of the time. Souza, a lifelong rebel who was expelled from St Xavier's school in Mumbai for drawing lewd graffiti on the toilet and later from JJ for taking part in the Quit India movement, moved to London in 1949. “It's a composition that has all the Souza characteristics -a nude woman, a priest that's autobiographical, a still life on the ledge, and beyond the window, a landscape,“ she says.
Birth, which is an oil-and-board work, measures 48x96 inches. Going by the auction price, this would mean close to $900 per square inch. Prices for Souza, which have been rising ever since his death in 2002, are going to firm up further, says Kishore Singh of Delhi Art Gallery (DAG). DAG, which is planning an exhibition of masterpieces at the forthcoming India Art Fair, reportedly picked up a Souza work for $2.5 million at the Saffronart sale in Delhi.
