Page 98 - Pundole's Auction M0015

49 The format of the current painting is part of a series of
works that Souza produced during the latter half of the
PROPERTY FROM AN IMPORTANT INDIAN COLLECTION 1950s, which recreate on a grander scale his tightly
composed pen and ink heads of the early 1950s. Although
FRANCIS NEWTON SOUZA the composition draws upon the religious paintings of
Titian and Raphael, the line is distinctly Souza’s own. In
1924?–?2002 1962 Edwin Mullins compared Souza to Picasso stating
‘with his finest paintings… the concentrated passion with
Man in Checked Shirt which they were created may seem to burn over the canvas,
yet the nature of the passion is less easy to place. They are
Oil on board full of apparent contradictions: agony wit, pathos and
1959 satire, aggression and pity. Their impact is certain but few
47½ × 23½ in. (120.6 × 59.7 cm.) people are able to explain what has hit them. Like Picasso,
too, his interventions have tended to be thought
Signed and dated ‘Souza 59’ upper right and inscribed outrageous, because the imagination that created them
‘F.N. SOUZA / 48 × 24"’ on reverse was discovering something about the visual world which
no one as yet understood or which everyone had forgotten.’
??1,20,00,000?–1,80,00,000 (Edwin Mullins, Souza, London, 1962, p. 37)

$ 179,105?–?268,655 The strength of the work is that it appears to be the
combination of several genres that were important to the
LITERATURE: artist. ‘The importance of Francis Newton Souza the young
Aziz Kurtha, Francis Newton Souza Bridging Western and Goan painter who has settled in London is that he has
Indian Modern Art, Ahmedabad, 2006, p.?192, illustrated. resolved the dilemma of style as no other modern Indian
artist has done. He has crossed Indian bazaar painting with
Balraj Khanna & Aziz Kurtha, Art of Modern India, London, the Picasso style ...to produce a manner that is at once
1998, p.?63, illustrated. individual and consistent and which might be said to
suggest a caricature of a Byzantine icon.’ (David Sylvester,
From the outset of his career Souza was a figurative ‘A Goan Painter’, New Statesman, 14 December 1957)
painter, and the central themes for his paintings tend to
oscillate between voluptuous female forms and rather
uncomfortable tortured male figures, often presented in the
manner of religious icons. The current work, painted on a
plain background, of a lone male figure dressed in blue
checks, falls into the second category. At first glance, the
figure appears to be a somewhat conventional depiction of
a man of the modern age, but the addition of a checked
round-necked robe hints at the religious iconography of
the Roman Catholic Church that inspired Souza throughout
his career.

‘Souza’s particular strength lies not in his refusal to admit
the importance of abstract art, but in his capacity to find
in figurative painting everything that he needs; so much
so, that he cannot understand why any other artist can
do anything else. “To paint abstract paintings is quite
impossible.” Souza has written, “it’s like trying to paint thin
air and those who think they do are fooling themselves.
They claim to be going ‘beyond’. Beyond what? Beyond
zero is minus. They say the spectator must bring his own
imagination to work upon their painted surfaces, which
means that the spectator should do all the work. It’s another
instance of the Emperor’s clothes. And if this is “art”, then
I’m the little boy who shouts “it’s naked!”.”’ (Edwin Mullins,
Souza, London, 1962, p. 36)

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