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Lot 11
Francis Newton Souza (1924 - 2002)
Estimate : 5,00,000 - 6,00,000

Souza had sketched his first nude at the young age of sixteen. For him, the body was a means to express both torment and fascination. The extraordinary voluptuousness of the female figures in Souza’s nudes are firmly rooted in Indian art historical tradition, with the perfectly rounded breasts and buttocks recalling an entire history of full-bosomed erotic imagery from the tantric to the miniaturist. The female figures of Buddhist and Hindu temple sculptures also reflect in his works. Unlike the languorous nudes of Paul Gauguin and Henri Matisse, Souza's figures are somehow both sensuous and brazen.'
(excerpt from exhibition text for F.N. Souza: 52 Years on Paper: 1946 - 1998. grosvenorgallery.com)


In their entirety, Souza's nudes offer an alternate picture of the female body, standing in stark comparison to the academic 'reality' female anatomy. These nude sketches from the sixties portray his models in their everyday routine, directly challenging the way we understand beauty and sexuality. His nudes, male and female, are permanently distorted and disturbed. 'Through these distortions, Souza not only celebrated the raw sexuality of Indian women which were suppressed in Indian paintings but also lay bare and questioned the moral construction of Indian historical paintings which adhered to norms of traditional beauty and suppressed sexuality. The contorted figures of the women took shape as the artist indulged in brush strokes strongly scratching and cross-hatching lines.'
(text courtesy: Sex, Nudity and Women: Exploring F. N. Souza’s Perspective. dhoomimalgallery.com)

Hammer Price :
5,50,000
+ Buyer premium (10 %)
 55000.00
Total
6,05,000
The lot has ended
Description

Souza had sketched his first nude at the young age of sixteen. For him, the body was a means to express both torment and fascination. The extraordinary voluptuousness of the female figures in Souza’s nudes are firmly rooted in Indian art historical tradition, with the perfectly rounded breasts and buttocks recalling an entire history of full-bosomed erotic imagery from the tantric to the miniaturist. The female figures of Buddhist and Hindu temple sculptures also reflect in his works. Unlike the languorous nudes of Paul Gauguin and Henri Matisse, Souza's figures are somehow both sensuous and brazen.'
(excerpt from exhibition text for F.N. Souza: 52 Years on Paper: 1946 - 1998. grosvenorgallery.com)


In their entirety, Souza's nudes offer an alternate picture of the female body, standing in stark comparison to the academic 'reality' female anatomy. These nude sketches from the sixties portray his models in their everyday routine, directly challenging the way we understand beauty and sexuality. His nudes, male and female, are permanently distorted and disturbed. 'Through these distortions, Souza not only celebrated the raw sexuality of Indian women which were suppressed in Indian paintings but also lay bare and questioned the moral construction of Indian historical paintings which adhered to norms of traditional beauty and suppressed sexuality. The contorted figures of the women took shape as the artist indulged in brush strokes strongly scratching and cross-hatching lines.'
(text courtesy: Sex, Nudity and Women: Exploring F. N. Souza’s Perspective. dhoomimalgallery.com)

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It is a long established fact that a reader will be distracted by the readable content of a page when looking at its layout. The point of using Lorem Ipsum is that it has a more-or-less normal distribution of letters, as opposed to using 'Content here, content here', making it look like readable English. Many desktop publishing packages and web page editors now use Lorem Ipsum as their default model text, and a search for 'lorem ipsum' will uncover many web sites still in their infancy. Various versions have evolved over the years, sometimes by accident, sometimes on purpose (injected humour and the like).

It is a long established fact that a reader will be distracted by the readable content of a page when looking at its layout. The point of using Lorem Ipsum is that it has a more-or-less normal distribution of letters, as opposed to using 'Content here, content here', making it look like readable English. Many desktop publishing packages and web page editors now use Lorem Ipsum as their default model text, and a search for 'lorem ipsum' will uncover many web sites still in their infancy. Various versions have evolved over the years, sometimes by accident, sometimes on purpose (injected humour and the like).

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