Crucifixion Painting By Indian Artist Forced To Flee Britain Goes on Sale Clickwalla.com Thursday 23 February 2006
The picture which has been in the possession of a British family since 1964 is estimated to sell for between £200,000 to £300,000. In 1965 Souza outraged public opinion in Britain when at the age of 40 he married his third wife, 17-year-old Barbara Zinkant. He and his new bride were forced to flee the country after negative press coverage and they settled in New York where Souza fell on hard times and was declared bankrupt. Over the years he gave away many of his paintings to friends, pictures which are now fetching six figure sums and more. Today Britain is belatedly waking up to the fact that it lost one of its greatest 20th century artists. For this newly fashionable leader of modern Indian art the Bonhams sale promises to raise his rapidly rising profile even higher. A similar crucifixion scene by Souza is currently being exhibited at the Tate in London. The Bonhams picture, 'Last Howl From The Cross' shows a skeletal Christ with the teeth of a skull. As a boy Souza had been expelled from his school and later he outraged artistic opinion in India and left for Britain from which he later fled to America. It is not surprising that he felt persecuted says writer Barrie Sturt-Penrose who knew Souza personally. Sturt-Penrose, author of the 1969 book The Art Scene, writes: "Francis Souza was obsessed, haunted, by the physical and, as he saw it, the mental anguish of putting paint on canvas. He saw demons around him, convinced his critics and enemies were out to do him down. And some were it must be said. He particularly hated art dealers. And (for him) loathsome art critics. True a few liked his work in the early 1960s and his popularity and prices rose in certain art buying circles. But many didn't and they were quick to write and say so. The late Terence Mullaley, art critic of the Daily Telegraph practically ran a campaign against Francis and his art. But he could not stop writing or talking about Souza. When Souza later began painting in his "black" period, many of them robust nudes, Mullaley again took up his cudgels and attacked the Goan-born artist. Edwin Mullins, then art critic of the Sunday Telegraph, was another fierce opponent. How Souza must be smiling now. His detractors vanquished. Francis had a nimble pen and replied in colourful responses, in his books and magazine articles. Not to forget his endless love of spirited conversations. Answering his critics. Fighting to be seen and heard. I saw him several times at his large crowded studio in north London. It must be around the time he was painting the large brilliant crucifixion. His enthusiasm for painting was boundless. I can picture him now, using his latest gadget, a modern version of the camera obscura. This allowed him to project drawings on to a wall. And then paint them. I remember when he was doing well in the London art market he would have a maid walk from the house where he lived to his studio, carrying a bottle of champagne on a silver tray. Keen to impress a would-be buyer. And to hell with telling his dealers he was privately selling his work. Falling out with the dealers eventually pushed him into fleeing abroad. Several years later I saw him at his tiny apartment in New York. And we went to a nearby restaurant. Still witty, he was very poor. But still painting with a near manic zeal." Souza was not afraid of outraging convention. In 1969 speaking about the neglect of Indian art he said: "As to why Indian art has been neglected is partly that it has offended and still offends the sensibilities of sexually impotent people, and the so-called puritans who have been repelled by the symbolically powerful sexual portent of Indian art in general" He also felt that the sheer scale and mass of Indian art defeated any comprehensive understanding of it. George Melly Writes: In a newly published book 'F.N. Souza Religion & Erotica', the British musician and entertainer, George Melly, a friend of the Souza, describes in a preface the problems faced by the artist: "What went wrong was nothing to do with the work. The reaction of the press, who showed little interest in modern art unless it was in some ways shocking or incomprehensible, were onto him like ravening vultures." "Souza had a wonderfully sour colour sense and slashing line. His erotic pictures were to do with the mutual and equal pleasures of sex; they were not, in the contemporary sense, at all pornographic, but they were open and honest and clearly conceived by a believer in the joy available to lovers without inhibition or guilt." The Bonhams sale includes other Souza pictures: three landscapes, with estimates from £60,000-80,000, £30,000-50,000, and £20,000-30,000; two nudes with estimates ranging from £50,000-70,000 and £80,000-120,000; and a depiction of an "emperor" figure, estimate £80,000-120,000. All works have come from private collections, many of which have not appeared on the market since the 1960s. http://www.clickwalla.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=660&Itemid=75 ~(^^)~ Avelino
