There appears to be a growing sense of grandiose perverseness in conferring artists with monetary acclaim -- either shortly after their demise, or decades later. Both, F.N. Souza and V.S. Gaitonde, would have benefited immensely, and endearingly, from a waited-upon lifestyle had any of their paintings made the $1.5 million benchmark in their lifetime. Instead, both endured existence on a marginal income; Gaitonde much more abjectly than Souza
In a letter penned to me in the 1970s, Souza was expletive in his unscrupulous ire that Goans were the least interested in his work, and went on to state that he couldnt recall of a single Goan owning his work. I did, however, recall two Goans who owned his work at the time: Max Sequiera and Dom Moraes. Had more Goans owned a Souza, they would, today, have remained in Goa where they rightfully belong. Art in my opinion -- should be displayed where it is accessible to one and all rather than bequeathed to the closet of the highest bidder. In 1980, I had the opportunity of accepting two ink portraits that Souza had created of me. I opted for Xerox copies. Had I accepted the originals, they would have been on display in the Goa State Museum, along with a 1960 abstract (oil on canvas) by V.S. Gaitonde (which I gifted to the museum in 1991), and a Jan van Ecyk (oil on copper plate) which I gifted in 1976. No alarming wonder that I have ended up as a retired failure! While it may be too late for a Goan to own a Souza, it is not too late to promote a fellow Goan, even if she/he from this world or the next -- never hears the gavel at Christies! Dom Martin ______________________ Message: 6 Date: Fri, 31 Mar 2006 16:51:44 +0530 From: "Frederick Noronha (FN)" Another Goan great. Wasn't he a contemporary of FN Souza? FN Gaitonde sets record of $1.5 mn at Christie's By Indo Asian News Service New York, March 31 (IANS) Painter Vasudeo S. Gaitonde's large abstract oil came under the hammer for $1.472 million at Christie's Asia Week here as record-breaking times continued for Indian art. Zen master Gaitonde's Untitled, 1975 (estimate: $600,000-800,000) work led the way for the world to see at Thursday night's sales of Indian and Southeast Asian Art and Modern and Contemporary Indian Art. _____________________________________________ Do not post admin requests to the list. Goanet mailing list ([email protected]) Help/Unsubscribe/Update your Subscription: %(user_optionsurl)s This email sent to %(user_address)s
