‘Girl in a Yellow Sweater’ by Goan master, Francis Newton Souza, sold for a whopping 14,38,39,392 at an auction held on May 2, 2022 and May 3, 2022. The painting was part of the ‘Masters Legacy’ Modern Indian Art sale, conducted by AstaGuru Auction House, Mumbai, and was bought by a secret art collector.
‘La Supply,’ by fellow Goan artist, Antonio Xavier Trindade, fetched ₹ 73.2 lakh.
‘Girl in a Yellow Sweater’ is an oil painting done in 1957, and came from the collection of Harold Kovner, a patron of the Goan artist. The work originally came from a private collection in New Delhi, and was acquired by the present owner from Grosvenor Gallery.
The painting bears Souza’s signature style of human heads and faces, a theme he used throughout his career, right from the time he was in India.
In 2018, the Tate Gallery, London, honoured Souza by dedicating a room for his works, making him the only Indian painter to enjoy this privilege.
Souza’s works can be found in prestigious museums around the world, including The Birmingham Museum of Art (USA), the British Museum (UK), the Victoria and Albert Museum (UK), the Hepworth Wakefield Art Gallery (UK) and the National Gallery of Modern Art (New Delhi) among others.
He left India in 1949 after his works were removed from the Indian Art Society for being too obscene.
While Souza was a rebellious artist, earning monikers such as the ‘Enfant Horrible’ of Indian artwork, Trindade was known as the ‘Rembrandt of the East’.