For Christ's sake Mumbai Mirror MUMBAI, Wednesday, March 22, 2006 Souza's 'Last Howl from the Cross' is up for bid at Rs 2,32,74,090 crore at Bonhams auction
Will the late F N Souza's macabre crucifixion be the next big thing at the auctions? Georgina Maddox Hot on the heels of the online auction of an Atul Dodiya for Rs 1.21 crore,the late Goan artist F N Souza's work the 'Last Howl from the Cross', will be the new record-breaker if the asking bid of £200,000 to £300,000 (Rs 2,32,74,090 crore) is met at the upcoming Bonhams auction. While galleries have been predicting that things will slow down and the market will return to more realistic prices, the auction houses seem to be set on proving the inverse. Bonham's representative Mehreen Rizvi Khursheed (specialist in 20th century Indian and Pakistani painting) has her own take on why the prices are soaring. "Everything that has even a whiff of Indian culture is hot in the international market these days," says Khursheed. "The Souza is one of the highlights of this auction. However, unlike Christie's and Sothebys, Bonhams only sources works which have been in the UK for 30 to 40 years...which is why we have such a good collection of Souzas since he lived in Britain in 1965 and painted some of his most important works here." The story goes that 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 coverageand they settled in New York where Souza fell on hard times and wasdeclared bankrupt. Over the years he gave away many of his paintingsto 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. The 'Last Howl...' has been in the possession of a British family since 1964 and was singled out as special since it is "an immensely powerful and disturbing image of the crucified Christ, making a last agonised scream from the cross. The head has been depicted as a skeleton, with the teeth of a skull," describes Khursheed. Only Souza, could have come up with such a disturbing and controversial image since he was always known to flout convention and was the black sheep of every institution, including the JJ School of Art, from which he was expelled as a student in 1942. "I want to do everything: to make others suffer, to make myself suffer. I have no desire to redeem myself or anybody else because man is by his very nature unredeemable, yet he hankers so desperately after redemption. I wanted to hang myself on the cross with both my hands and feel nailed to it...," he had said once (taken from an essay by Theodore Mesquita on Souza). Also up for auction is a work by Tyeb Mehta that is up for auction with a price quotation of £ 150,000 to 200,000, a Chughtai, a collection of Jamini Roys, and J Swaminathan. Watch this space as the hammer comes down on April 6 at New Bond Street in London. Souza, Who? * Souza was born in 1924 (Saligaon, Goa,) and died in March 2002 In Mumbai * Was expelled in 1942 for participating in the Quit India movement * Is credited with the idea of forming the Progressive Artists' Group, of which he was a founder member * Left for London in 1949 and, after a few years of struggle, he began to make a mark * His major shows and works were produced during the '50s and '60s * His autobiographical piece Nirvana of a Maggot in 'Encounter' magazine is his most celebrated piece of writing More at: http://www.mumbaimirror.com/nmirror/mmpaper.asp?sectid=18&articleid=32120062324583433212006232457453 ~(^^)~ Avelino
