The Nonconformist F. N. Souza
The Goan artist specialized in portraits and explored the nature of the 'self'.
Francis Newton Souza (1924-2002), born in Saligao, Goa, was a nonconformist. Expelled from Mumbai's Sir J. J. School of Art for his association with the Quit India Movement, he co-founded the Bombay Progressive Artists' Group in 1947. His work, an amalgam of Goan folk art, Renaissance and European influences, is iconic. Souza specialized in portraits and explored the nature of the 'self' to capture energy and life force, and used cross-hatched strokes, heavy black outlines, thick application of paint and a dark colour palette, demonstrating anguish and invoking repulsion. 'Portrait of Husain', depicting his friend and contemporary M. F. Husain, highlights their camaraderie and is said to be one of his gentler works. On Souza's death, Husain had said, "I came into the art world because of him ... he's the most significant Indian painter, an intellectual, an artist whom India should be proud of."
...Francis Newton Souza (1924-2002), born in Saligao, Goa, was a nonconformist. Expelled from Mumbai's Sir J. J. School of Art for his association with the Quit India Movement, he co-founded the Bombay Progressive Artists' Group in 1947. His work, an amalgam of Goan folk art, Renaissance and European influences, is iconic. Souza specialized in portraits and explored the nature of the 'self' to capture energy and life force, and used cross-hatched strokes, heavy black outlines, thick application of paint and a dark colour palette, demonstrating anguish and invoking repulsion. 'Portrait of Husain', depicting his friend and contemporary M. F. Husain, highlights their camaraderie and is said to be one of his gentler works. On Souza's death, Husain had said, "I came into the art world because of him ... he's the most significant Indian painter, an intellectual, an artist whom India should be proud of."