Francis Newton Souza (1924-2002)

Galerie Raymond Creuze, Paris 

Thickly dabbled paint within figure. Edges of board slightly eroded. Upper right edge of board slightly dented at two places. Slight paint loss along edges of board in two places. Colours brighter than catalogue illustration.
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In 1949, early in Souza's career, the art historian Dr. Hermann Goetz wrote, 'He [Souza] has shocked many who cannot imagine a green or blue red human body...who cannot stand a simplification intended to intensify an experience, or a distortion of proportions suggesting a sense of earthbound heaviness...who cannot face the frank statement of sex which is sublimated not by suppression but by association and interplay with the experience of the soul.'

Throughout his life Souza continued to paint female nudes in many forms and they remain central to his work; his early paintings were influenced by the voluptuous forms of classical Indian temple carving but on his move to London he increasingly absorbed more European influences.  It has been suggested that Spanish Romanesque art inspired his iconic stances and frontal compositions, but although the current work post-dates Souza's move to London, the form of the nude remains firmly entrenched within an Indian context.

In 1948 Souza visited the India Independence exhibition in Delhi with Husain, where they saw classical Indian sculpture. For both artists the exhibition had a direct and immediate impact on their own work. Husain recalls 'After visiting the exhibition I combined three periods, the form of the Gupta period, the strong colors of the Basholi period and the innocence of folk art and worked on it then came out with five paintings which were shown at the Bombay Art Society in 1949.  Nobody had seen it - not even Souza.  At the opening he caught hold of me and took me to the Irani restaurant opposite and said "just tell me, what is this? Have you discovered something new?"' (M. F. Husain in an interview with Yashodhara Dalmia in 1992, published in The Making of Modern Indian Art: The Progressives, New Delhi, 2001).

The 'new'  in Husain's work became an interplay of traditional symbols and motifs combined with his very personal vision of contemporary post-independence India.  Souza's nude with broad hips, rounded high breasts, elaborate hair ornaments and heavy bangles is clearly reminiscent of the fertility goddesses of the Kushan period and earlier Sunga period terracottas.  The flower blossom  further heightens this association with classical Indian traditions, for it relates to an ancient belief that the natural fertility of a young maiden was so powerful that she merely had to touch a tree for its branches to blossom.  The current painting and several like it  appear to be Souza's own experimentation along a similar vein, perhaps in artistic terms his response to Husain's new style. 

However, Souza's nudes go beyond the boundaries of convention and unlike Husain there is no attempt to attain the 'innocence' of folk art; his intention is rather to face the contemporary world head on.   The woman's confident gaze unnerves the viewer, both acknowledging her blatant sexuality and vulnerability.  'F N. Souza is concerned with two main themes; religion (suffering) and sex (pleasure).  In opposition they comprise the essence of the human and the divine predicament, the dilemma of man in the mid 20th Century ' (Mervyn Levy, Interview with F. N. Souza, Studio International Art Magazine, April 1964).

Souza has combined these two themes of religion and sex to highlight the complexity of their relationship. He draws upon the imagery of ancient Indian fertility goddesses and yet his nude appears to be standing in front of a church.  The artist presents his very own 'divine predicament,' brought up in a land of ancient beliefs that venerated the female form as a symbol of fertility,  he was a Roman Catholic where nudity and sex were frequently directly associated with Original sin.

'The abundance of religion and sex in Souza's work is linked with his defiance of the Roman Catholic church.  He writes 'as a Roman Catholic youth born in Goa, I was familiar with the priests bellowing sermons from pulpits against sex and immodesty particularly addressed to women, making them stricken with guilt.  The Catholic men stood cocky in their suits and ties agreeing with the priests, lusting for naked women inwardly. Hypocrites.' (F. N. Souza, "Naked Women and Religion," Debonair, 1992).