Francis Newton Souza; painter (2002)
Hyfler/Rosner
London and caught a very exciting exhibit of his work at
Tate Britain. I just assumed that I posted his obituary
when he died, and discovered that no one did. So I'm
righting the wrong. There was only one obit in the UK.
The Guardian (London)
June 17, 2002
Obituary: FN Souza: India's first modern artist
BYLINE: Christopher P Wood
India's most important, and famous, modern artist Francis
Newton Souza, who has died aged 77 was of a generation whose
creative roots remained anchored securely and authentically
to the expressive modernism inspired by Picasso.
Born in the Portuguese Catholic colony of Goa, Souza was
brought up by his mother, a dressmaker. In 1929 after the
family moved to Bombay, he survived smallpox - and his
mother added the name Francis as a mark of respect to Goa's
patron saint St Francis Xavier. Having been expelled from
schools in 1937 and 1939, he entered the Sir JJ school of
art in Bombay in 1940 (now Mumbai) where he was mainly
taught the British academic tradition. He was expelled in
1945.
In 1947 he was awarded first prize in the Bombay art society
annual exhibition. He joined the Communist party and founded
the progressive art group along with KH Ara, SK Bakre, HA
Gade, MF Husain, and SH Raza.
When his pictures were shown at Burlington House a year
later, Souza decided to make his home in England and in 1949
he settled in London. For the next five years he struggled
to make an impact, but being a talented writer, he made a
living out of journalism .
Later, his early autobiographical essay Nirvana Of A
Maggot - which was published in 1955 - was sent to Stephen
Spender. He introduced Souza to Victor Musgrave, Gallery
One's owner and in 1955 his first show sold out A decade of
almost unbroken success followed.
But 1964 proved to be a difficult year. In a recent letter
he wryly described this period to me - when he met a
16-year-old whom he married the following year. The result
was headlines like: "Souza, 40 Weds Girl 17."
"We went to India for our honeymoon," he wrote, "but no
sooner had I returned to London when all hell broke out."
So when the offer of a gallery contract arrived from
Schuster in Detroit, Souza and his new wife fled, finally
settling in New York where, until his death, he had a
residence ever since.
On this side of the Atlantic his reputation went into slow
decline and almost vanished completely, until recently, when
Tate Modern re-hung his magnificent and brutal Crucifixion
(1959), reminding us of the expressive forces Souza had at
his disposal. Souza continued to work prolifically from his
New York base, exhibiting all over the world but spending
more and more time in his beloved India.
Over the years his subject matter remained consistent.
Crucifixes, last suppers, erotic nudes, the mother and
child, still lives and landscapes. In later years he
developed the "chemical works", a transfer process in which
he could combine printed imagery with drawing and painting.
But, for all this invention, in the end, Souza may best be
remembered for his compelling paintings of Christ and the
power of his erotically charged nudes. These were his
subjects and the imagery of his most important works. Here
the east, the west, the spiritual and the physical fuse
together, giving credence to his often used declaration
that, the "whole meaning of life is life itself!"
Souza held on to his wry humour and a healthy scepticism of
the establishment in any form. He celebrated the individual.
"Everything happens according to nature's intention", he was
fond of repeating. Souza lived his life painting and loving.
On his gravestone in Bombay are the image of an Angel and
the words "Nature is the Sole Principle". It was Souza's
last wish that a permanent museum of all his works be
created in India, his beloved motherland. India's first
modern artist deserves no less.
He is survived by his daughter Shelley from his first
marriage; Karen, Francesca and Anya from his second wife;
Patrick from his third wife; six grandchildren; and Srimati
Lal, his partner at the time of his death.
Francis Newton Souza, painter, born April 12 1924; died
March 28 2002