A large oil-on-masonite painting by the Indian-American artist Francis Newton Souza (1924-2002) climbed to $235,000, and three artworks by the Russian artist Mihail Chemiakin (b. 1943), a painting and two sculptures, combined to bring $44,800 at an auction held by Weiss Auctions at its Lynbrook, N.Y., gallery on May 17.
The Souza painting was by far the top lot of the auction. Titled “Head in a Landscape,” the work was impressive at 35-by-47.5 inches. It was fresh to the market, making the important estate find that much more attractive to the collectors who were eager to bid on it.
Francis Newton Souza was raised by his dressmaker mother in India and attended art school in Mumbai but was expelled in 1942 for supporting the Quit India Movement. Five years later he helped found the Bombay Progressive Artists’ Group, to encourage young Indian artists to become part of the international avant-garde movement. He moved to London, England, in 1949.
There, his work was exhibited at the Institute of Contemporary Art. Souza’s style was rooted in Expressionism but was influenced by Art Brut and Neo-Romanticism. Souza lived and worked in New York from 1967 until shortly before his death, when he returned to India.
The auction saw more than 500 lots come up for bid and gross around $600,000, including the buyer’s premium. “Internet and phone bidding were both very strong, and approximately 75 people attended in person,” said Philip Weiss of Philip Weiss Auctions. “The sale featured estate jewelry, bronzes, a Philip and Kelvin LaVerne mid-century modern table, porcelains and more.”
Original artwork, however, dominated the day’s list of top lots. The three pieces by Chemiakin included a 50-by-50-inch oil-on-canvas painting, signed and dated (1990) and an excellent example of his work ($18,700); a 29-inch-tall bronze sculpture from his “St. Petersburg Carnival series,” signed #2 of 8 ($10,500), and a sterling silver sculpture titled “Peter the Great” perched on a titled marble pedestal, 37 inches tall and with mounted plaques bearing his signature ($15,600).
Mihail Chemiakin (whose name is also spelled Mikhail Shemyakin) is a Russian painter, stage designer, sculptor and publisher and a controversial representative of the nonconformist art tradition of St. Petersburg. Chemiakin works in a broad range of media and subjects, as seen in the 2010 two-volume book on his art, “Mihail Chemiakin” (Azbooka publishers, St. Petersburg).
A lithograph and screenprint in colors on Arches paper by renowned American painter, sculptor and graphic artist Robert Rauschenberg (1925-2008), titled “People for the American Way” (1991), signed lower left, dated and numbered (“44/75”), and housed in a large 49-by-61-inch frame, sold for $24,600. It was a new world auction record for a print from that series.
A monumental Royal Vienna handpainted porcelain plaque depicting a religious scene, with an artist’s signature in the lower right appearing to read “E. Sihade,” changed hands for $8,525. The image area was 16.5-by-21.25 inches, with an inked beehive mark verso.
An oil-on-canvas painting by C. Hjalmar “Cappy” Amundsen (Me./N.Y./Mass, 1911-2001), depicting whalers off the coast in a vivid and colorful marine rendering, brought $6,000. The work, housed in a frame measuring 42.5-by-31 inches, was artist signed lower left. Internet bidding was provided by Proxibid, Invaluable.com and Auctionzip.com.
For more information, call 516-594-0731 or email Phil@WeissAuctions.com.