Panaji: Three works by Indian modernist of Goan origin, Francis Newton Souza, will feature in the upcoming Iconic Masters online auction on Aug 11-12. Leading the selection is “Head Of A Woman” (1961), an oil on canvas estimated at Rs 3-4 crore.The 1961 work is a commanding example of the heads that became among the most distinctive achievements of Souza’s mature practice. The face is recognisable yet deliberately estranged from naturalistic likeness, its flattened planes and mask-like construction recalling the frontal authority of devotional imagery. The dense reds, ochres and blacks intensify the work’s almost liturgical force.Sneha Gautam, director, client relations, AstaGuru Auction House said, “Souza’s 1960s works represent a defining moment in the history of Indian modernism, when his radical visual language reached an extraordinary degree of formal and jarring intensity.”Also featured are two other works by Souza also done in the 60s, “Untitled” (1967), estimated at Rs 20 lakh-Rs 30 lakh, and “Reclining Nude On A Bed” (1965), valued at Rs 5-7 lakh.Untitled (1967) brings together Souza’s engagement with organic and architectural form, where foliage, built structures and vigorous linear passages coalesce into an intensely worked pictorial field. Its warm earth palette and agitated contours recall the expressive force of European modernism.Reclining Nude on a Bed (1965) belongs to Souza’s sustained interrogation of the nude as a site where sensuality, defiance and formal invention converge. Executed in water colour, ink and pen, the work is intimate in scale but emphatic in its treatment of the body. The reclining figure is articulated through swift, incisive contours, while the bed establishes a shallow, enclosed pictorial space that intensifies the physical immediacy of the subject.The 1967 and 1961 works originate from the collection of Peter Müller, Germany, and subsequently formed part of the collection of Dhoomimal Gallery, while Reclining Nude on a Bed (1965) comes from the collection of Julian Hartnoll and was previously auctioned in the UK in 2016.
