Francis Newton Souza, also known as F.N. Souza, was an Indian painter. Francis Newton Souza was born in Saligao, Gao, India in the year 1924.
Souza reminds me of the artist Munch, both artists did a fantastic job at capturing the mood. Souza often depicted pain and suffering. Souza also reminds of German master Käthe Kollwitz.
The artist attended college first at St. Xavier’s College located in Bombay at the time, but was expelled for writing graffiti in a restroom. Souza also attended the Sir J.J. School of Art located in Bombay, India. The artist was kicked out of school for supporting the Quit India movement.
After leaving school he found employment as a journalist writing about art for such periodicals as ArtNews and Review.
A short selection of works by F.N. Souza:
The artist was associated with the Progressive Painting Group of which he was a founding member. Souza was a leader and helped to organize events and exhibitions that would make Indian painters and artists better known among European collectors.
Francis Souza passed away in 2002.
The artist was highly productive over his lengthy career producing many paintings and drawings.
Price range information: Works in ink and drawings start at the $20,000 up to original oils which can reach $2.5 million dollars.
Bharti Kher is a contemporary artist who is renown for her work with bindi or bindis, sometimes called the third eye or the “dot” worn by Indian women. Kher works as a painter, printmaker, and sculptor. Her sculptures are often life size works of very large animals such as elephants.
The artist began to use the bindi in the mid 1990s.
Price range information: Most works range from $40,000 to $400,000. Occasionally photographs can be found for less than $10,000.
Bharti Kher was born in London, England in the year 1969.
Her flat works often include bindis glued to wood panel.
In this clip a very large elephant that takes 7 or 8 people to carry is taken to Sotheby’s to get ready for an auction:
Kher is now based out of New Delhi, India.
Below a longer interview with Bharti Kher from 2014:
I always enjoy when items from a culture or country are included in artwork. That is why I so enjoy Inuit and Shona art. Kher work has a great sense of culture and humanity.
Krishen Khanna is a modern Indian artist who works with the figure in an abstract style. The artist was born in Faislabad, Pakistan in the year 1925.
Khanna is a self taught artist.
Krishen Khanna attended the Imperial Service College. The college produced guards for the Royal Family and also engineers. Khanna also attended the Government College.
After college the artist worked in the banking industry.
The artist was the recipient of a Rockfeller Fellowship.
In this clip we visit the studio of Krishen Khanna and a great interview is show:
Price range information: Khanna is highly prolific output working in charcoal, watercolor, oils, and pastels. Prices ranges $5,000 to $400,000.
Natvar Bhavsar is a prominent artist born in Visnager, India in the year 1934. Bhavsar began his artistic career as a Cubist painter and achieved international recognition before the age of twenty.
The artist would eventually find himself in New York City and upon seeing the American Abstract Expressionist painters developed a style that used some methods of traditional Indian sand painting. He prepares each canvas with many acrylic binders and then places the canvas flat on the floor. Rather than painting vertically pigments are dropped onto the canvas as it lies on the floor.
Another artist who had a similar technique was Vance Kirkland. Kirkland started out as a realist painter but eventually came to love abstract painting and developed a harness that would suspend him above his canvas in order to paint it. Two different artists but a similar approach.
Bhavsar earned a bachelors degree in English literature from Gujarat University located in Amdavad, India. Bhavsar earned a M.F.A. from the University of Pennsylvania.
Bhavsar has won fellowship grants from the Guggenheim and Rockefeller Foundations.
Price range information: Most works range from $5,000 to $60,000.
Bhavsar is based out of Soho in New York City.
In this clip from 2010 we visit a documentary movie that was made about Natvar Bhavsar:
I enjoy Bhavsar’s use of color in addition to the unique way he adds color to his canvas with the canvas being on the floor. Paint is used but Bhavsar also uses dried pigments giving his work an explosion of pure color for the eyes!
Dhananjay Singh was born in Hajipur, Bihar, India in the year 1977. This region is located in the north of India. For his artistic education Singh attended the Faculty of Visual Arts of Banaras Hindu University. The artist also earned a master’s degree from the University Baroda.
Dhananjay Singh’s favorite subject is the tree.
The artist works with sculpture and also painting. Many paintings are executed with watercolor on paper.
Many sculptures are made of bronze and either stainless steel wire or copper wire.
Price range information: Works range from $4,000 to $50,000.
I love the way the artist has merged the figure and the tree into one style uniquely his own! It makes sense as the way a branch tapers it reminds me of the same taper you see on the human arm or leg.
Tayyabb Mehta was a wonderful painter of the figure using a modernist approach born in Kapadvanj, India in the year 1925.
For his collegiate studies Mehta attended he Sir J.J. School of Art.
Price range information: The artist has had works break the 2 million dollar barrier in acrylics and the 3 million dollar barrier in oils. Lithographs and smaller works in ink or charcoal can be found between $10,000 and $50,000.
Based out of Mumbai, India for the majority of his painting career.
Had stints abroad in London and New York that increased his skill level.
Had a wife and 2 children.
Receipient of Rockefeller Fellowship.
Also a producer of short length movies including a very well received work titled Koodal, a movie shot at a slaughter house.
One theme the artist enjoyed was portraying a person pulling a rickshaw. Very common and used daily in Indian life.
In this clip we see a drawing with crayon on paper by Mehta.
Tayeb Mehta has had a work sell for $1.5 million at auction. In this clip we visit this magnificent work.
Mehta passed away in 2009 at the age of 83 years old.
In the gallery all pictures by Atul Dobiya except the last two. His wife made the second to last one and Greg Miller made the last painting.
The artist hails from Bombay, India and was born in the year 1959.
For his artistic education he attended the famous J.J. School of Art located in Bombay. He finished college in 1982.
A great clip here. Atul Dodiya is interviewed and talks about collecting art and the high prices sometimes involved.
In this clip see an exhibition that took place in September and October of this year at Galerie Daniel Templon located in Paris, France. The focus of the show was the scribes of Timbuktu. The interview is in English and subtitled in French.
The artist won a prize given by Sotheby’s in 2000.
One of the most famous contemporary artists working in India today. The artist not only works in mediums, but combines many mediums in one of art. Giving the viewer an overdose of eye candy! What makes his works very unique is that they make statements about India’s past, present, and future states of being. Dodiya cleverly mixes slogans with cultural icons. In one series he has even paid homage to current artists using quotes from David Hockney and Bhupen Khakhar.
Atul Dodiya is not very prolific as an artist as far as output. He prefers to pour much of his energy into a few works of art. Thus his very high prices!
The artist is included in many museum collections including
Dodiya currently lives and works out of Mumbai, India.
Price range information: Dodiya has worked in watercolors which range from $13,000 and up. Lithographs start at $12,000. Acrylics record is $144,000. Also has produced works in steel as well as paintings with enamel and other mixed media that can reach as high as six figures.
Atul is married to another quite famous painter named Anju Dodiya. Below is an example of her artwork.
The artist reminds me of current contemporary artist Greg Miller. Miller works in a similar pattern of using pop culture and iconic material as well as mixing advertising making both of their works a symbol of current life in each of their respective cultures. Miller works out of California. Below is a work of Greg Miller.
Dodiya is also very creative in his use of surfaces. Sometimes he prepares and paints directly on shutters that one would expect to see while walking down a street in India. Sometimes the artist will work on a prepared steel surface.
The artist was born in Dahapara Village, Faridpur, Bangledesh in 1939.
The artist’s father was a zamindar. This means his father owned a bunch of land. This time of land ownership system is similar to that of the fief. The owner of the land held tremendous sway over those that lived on it. A peasant and a master plain and simple.
Both parents enjoyed creating art. His father painted and also made sculptures of hindu coins. His mother had superb drawing skills.
Below is a great clip showing some great serigraph prints from a show given in Mumbai, India. The artist is interviewed and tells us his feelings on printmaking.
Many artists make a tremendous amount of money from their prints. I think printmaking is a great way to introduce more people to your art as well. If you have a moment please google Greenwich Workshop. Here you can find high quality prints by top level artists such as my favorite Howard Terpning and Bev Doolittle.
Has spent much of his life living abroad. He lived in Calcutta India, Paris, and London. For his art education Chowdhury attended the Government Collge of Art and Crafts located in Kolkata, India. He also took some studio classes also in Kalkata.
In 1966 he won a prestigious award for young painters.
In 1970 joined the Calcutta Painters Group. Also in this year he had a book of his own personal poems printed. It brought large publicity to the arist, his A HA moment as Oprah would say.
Very prolific as an artist and has worked in many mediums. Chowdhury has used ink, pastel, oil, serigraph, gouache, and watercolor.
High priced range: Ink works titled “Day Dreaming” sold for $682,000. $15,000 for a pastel. Charcoals end up around $20,000.
Low priced range: Pastels start around $6,500. Inks can be had starting at $10,000. Charcoals start around $10,000.
The artist currently lives and works out of Santiniketan. He is one of the main artists in India whom all the younger artists hope to emulate. As far as mastering the business side of art and the teaching side of art, Chowdhury has few peers that match his consistent intensity toward self improvement when it comes to expressing ideas through drawing and painting.
In India he is most known for his paintings done solely with ink or in a combination with watercolour. His goal of expression is by using the figure. He sometimes distorts figures in order to make his point more clearly. As an artist who loves caricature, this is the best part of his oeuvre. Similar artists who had a somewhat similar style and where born relatively close would be Jack or David Levine. Both were masters at distorted the face to give a certain appeal.
Think about a printmaking class or technique you might like to try.
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