My 'unjustly forgotten' Indian friend

Julian Hartnoll and FN Souza at 14 Masons Yard London 1995 PHOTO COURTESY SRIMATI LALI happen to like crucifixions very much says Julian Hartnoll We are not sure if Hartnoll who describes himself as an art monger is being facetious or not He offers an explanation The scene of Christs crucifixion and the symbol of the cross are among the most culturally and artistically reproduced tropes in the world He picks out a bunch of trinkets veiled by a summery scarf around his neck A filigreed Ethiopian cross jingles alongside another number embellished with flints of diamondsArt and life it is as personal as it gets for Hartnoll For the last 20 years his Good Friday ritual has been travelling to Venice to gaze at the grand tableau of events surrounding Christs crucifixion as envisioned by the Renaissance painter Tintoretto I like to look at this painting because it is so realistic he says slowly adding But Souza gets the agony of the crucifixionFrom the collection of Julian Hartnoll Female nude by FNacircAcircu00c2u0080Acircu00c2u0088Souza 1956We have been discussing a striking work by the late Indian Modernist FN Souza in which a black Christ looks like the stretched skin of an animal Two deformed figures keep him company The pulsating energy in Tintorettos is a stark contrast to the raw pain in Souzas if Tinoretto was grand Souza is grotesqueCrucifixion painted by Souza in 1959 is now permanently displayed at the Tate Britain which acquired the oil on board piece from Hartnoll in 1993 It is a very powerful painting showing a gruesome scene and it is not easy on the eye he muses As an aside he adds You know Souza died on Good Friday rightFigures in a Landscape 1977Did he ever ask Souza about Crucifixion No he says Our conversations werent always art historical or academic Its not like we spoke about art all the time We spoke about women Hartnoll chuckles boyishlyHartnoll shies away from using the words gallerist a French invention and curator pretentious to describe himself When he cofounded Hartnoll amp Eyre in 1968 before setting up his own eponymous gallery in 1975 Hartnoll went in search of the artists who were unjustly forgotten those who were popular at one point but had fallen out of the market Souza fitted his scope of interest I wasnt interested in Souza because he was Indian he was international and unjustly forgotten he says alluding to the struggles that the artist faced during his lifetimeHartnoll does a headstand as a bemused Souza looks on at The Chelsea Arts Club in August 1995 PHOTO BY SRIMATI LALAs one who shared a deep kinship with Souza it is a wonder that Hartnoll is able to infuse our conversation about death and outdated modes of capital punishments on a Saturday morning with the right dosage of mirth and banter We are at Pundoles the reputable auction house which recently shifted base to a quiet nook in Ballard Estate on the eve of their fine art auction preview Among the lots in the sale set for April 12 are drawings by Souza that Hartnoll had purchased directly from the artist in 1996 and two letters that the artist wrote to himI am exactly the age Souza was when I first met him says the 73yearold who is in Mumbai this weekend to deliver a talk peppered with photographic vignettes of those years Memories of Souza 19941997 coincides with the preview at Pundoles and begins with Hartnolls search to meet Souza the man who had made Crucifixion After some missed opportunities the two met at The Chelsea Arts Club a London establishment that harks back to 1891 and boasts of members of creative and artistic repute through the help of artist Srimati LalPicBipin KokateIt started with a drink and ended with a boisterous party Souza painted his face in an attempt of Souza making a Souza a rather tipsy Hartnoll did a perfect headstand If you are meeting somebody for the first time and if after a couple of days you are standing on your head that means you are getting along just fine dont you think says Hartnoll In Souza Hartnoll found a fellow prankster and an intellectual companion It led to a few visits to the Yatri Nivas Hotel in New Delhi where Souza had an almost permanent lodging and to Souzas studio in New York Hartnoll also gave Souza his first exhibition at his gallery in 1997 with the catalogue cover featuring Souza framed through the hands of a nude figureThe explicitness of the cover was one that Hartnoll treaded carefully with all Souza works that he bought and sold There are two types of Souza nudes the female as a shape and a body which he likes for its curves and the pornographic ones which can be seen as rude I went through 500 drawings at his studio to pick the ones in the auction and avoided the erotic kinds which I dont think people can hang in their homes anyway he saysIn Hartnoll you find the true spirit of the art dealer He has sold 35 paintings by Souza but the current lot of drawings in the auction is all that he chose to own Crucifixion for instance he bought for pound6000 and sold for pound8000 to Tate Britain Today the astronomical prices that Souza fetches in auctions do not fill him with regrets of missed opportunities I bought an Italian sports car for pound400 and sold it for pound600 I recently heard it went for pound750000 I bought a house in Belgrave Square for pound600 sold it for pound900 Today it costs pound9 million This was my philosophy and it was Souzas tooAs we wind up we ask Hartnoll if Souza who was known to be argumentative and difficult at times was ever so with him For me he was always easy We just got on