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We are proud to present a selection of works on paper from the Francis Newton Souza Family Collection, following last June's groundbreaking Estate sale. This sale promises to be an eye-opener once again, demonstrating his facility as a draftsman and providing extraordinary insight into his creative process and artistic techniques. We discover sequences of drawings like frames in a film strip, see him sketching the composition for a canvas, reflecting on old masters, chemically manipulating magazine pages and transmogrifying them into new images, not with a pen but by using a solvent. Nowhere is his visual imagination more apparent and tangible than on paper.
After his death in 2002, a pair of panelled glass French doors were preserved in his New York apartment. They opened to the bedroom and Souza covered the panes with drawings to form a screen, replacing the view through the glass with a vivid mosaic of heads and figures. These doors do not separate the private sphere, but extend it into a sphere of artistic imagination - more is attached to the hinges than just doors. To anyone who has ever spent time with Souza in this apartment, these doors are a unique centrepiece and one of the most unusual elements to appear at auction--a historic installation from the artist's studio and living space.
In addition to Souza, the sale includes a number of outstanding works by other modern and contemporary masters, such as Tyeb Mehta, Vasudeo Gaitonde and Atul Dodiya, to name just a few. We invite you to discover these treasures on the following pages - beyond the painted doors.
Hugo Weihe
International Director Asian Art
PROPERTY FROM THE FAMILY OF FRANCIS NEWTON SOUZA
FRANCIS NEWTON SOUZA (1924-2002)
Untitled (Scenes from Goa)
Details
FRANCIS NEWTON SOUZA (1924-2002)
Untitled (Scenes from Goa)
signed and dated 'NEWTON Souza 1948' (upper right); signed and dated 'Souza 52' (upper left); signed and dated 'Souza 1952' (upper right); signed and dated 'Souza 1950' (upper right)
ink on paper
11 3/8 x 8 3/8 in. (29.1 x 21.3 cm.); 9 7/8 x 7 7/8 in. (25.2 x 20.2 cm.); 9 7/8 x 7 7/8 in. (25.2 x 20.2 cm.); 9 7/8 x 7 7/8 in. (25.2 x 20.2 cm.)
Executed in 1948; 1952; 1952; 1950
Group of four works on paper (4)
Untitled (Scenes from Goa)
signed and dated 'NEWTON Souza 1948' (upper right); signed and dated 'Souza 52' (upper left); signed and dated 'Souza 1952' (upper right); signed and dated 'Souza 1950' (upper right)
ink on paper
11 3/8 x 8 3/8 in. (29.1 x 21.3 cm.); 9 7/8 x 7 7/8 in. (25.2 x 20.2 cm.); 9 7/8 x 7 7/8 in. (25.2 x 20.2 cm.); 9 7/8 x 7 7/8 in. (25.2 x 20.2 cm.)
Executed in 1948; 1952; 1952; 1950
Group of four works on paper (4)
Literature
Untitled (Embracing Couple), 1950, F. Souza and G. Melly eds., F. N. Souza: Religion and Erotica, London, 2005, p. 69 (illustrated)
Untitled (Mother and Child), 1952, ibid., p. 38 (illustrated)
Untitled (Woman Feeding Birds), 1952, ibid., p. 30 (illustrated)
Untitled (Mother and Child), 1952, ibid., p. 38 (illustrated)
Untitled (Woman Feeding Birds), 1952, ibid., p. 30 (illustrated)
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