Ever one to question social convention and norms, Souza’s art was reflective of his strong ideals. It was not concerned with representation of truth, with questions of style and tradition, with problems of nationalism and modernism. His fundamental aim was to challenge the way art was commonly seen and understood, to redefine it, and to expand the horizons of the art scene in India—and so he did.
Francis Newton Souza, lovingly called Souza, was of a generation whose creative roots remained anchored securely and authentically to the expressive modernism inspired by Picasso. Born in 1924 in the Portuguese Catholic colony of Goa, Souza was brought up by his mother. Having been expelled from schools in 1937 and 1939, he entered the Sir JJ School of Art in Bombay in 1940. He was expelled in 1945 for having slapped one of his teachers on not being allowed to shout nationalist slogans. He later went ahead to join the Communist party and founded the Progressive Artists’ Group along with KH Ara, SK Bakre, HA Gade, MF Husain, and SH Raza.
“Francis was a very dear friend of mine even though he was many years older than me. I first met him in 1959, in Bombay. He was a highly celebrated artist. Sometimes his painting and drawings of heads and human figures were very graphic, grotesque, and horrifying. I made a portrait of him in oil in 1962,” says Jatin Das, an eminent artist.
This story is from the March - April 2017 edition of Creative Image.
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This story is from the March - April 2017 edition of Creative Image.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
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