40-41 / 168
40
41
PROPERTY FROM A DISTINGUISHED PRIVATE COLLECTION, DUBAI
21
F N SOUZA
(1924 ‒ 2002)
Head of a Woman
Signed and dated 'Souza 61' (upper right); inscribed and dated
'F. N. SOUZA / 1961 / Head of a Woman'; bearing Grosvenor
Gallery label (on the reverse)
1961
Oil on paper pasted on linen
30 x 22 in (76.2 x 55.9 cm)
Rs 40,00,000 ‒ 60,00,000
$ 59,705 ‒ 89,555
PROVENANCE:
Collection of the artist
Private Collection, UK
EXHIBITED:
Indian Modernist Landscapes
, 1950‒1970, Bakre / Ribeiro /
Souza, London: Grosvenor Gallery, 2‒25 November 2016
Souza’s portraits and paintings of heads underwent gradual
transformations over time, from the cross‒hatching technique
that became the hallmark of his early works, to the loops,
whorls and squiggles which animated the distorted visages
of his subjects. His technique demonstrates his versatility as a
draughtsman, while offering a scathing commentary on what
he saw as the hypocrisy of society, especially the clergy and
members of the elite. In the present lot, Souza uses his trademark
bold, sinewy lines, and bright colours. The circular forms where
the eyes and mouth should be, resemble pockmarks which had
begun to appear in his works during the 1960s.
By the early 1960s, Souza had gained widespread recognition
in England for his writing and art. He had held a number of
successful one‒man shows at Gallery One in London. Organised
by Victor Musgrave, they propelled Souza’s career as an artist.
The present lot was made in the same year that Souza held his
most impressive one‒man show at the gallery’s new premises
in North Audley Street. Writing about his paintings of heads,
critic Andrew Forge observed that “Somewhere behind any
serious portrait painting there is a wish to gain command of
a person... But in Souza you can see the real thing operating,
you can see him closing in on his images as though they could
save his life, or backing away from them as though they could
kill him. Souza himself has said that he has made of his art ‘a
metabolism. I express myself freely in paint in order to exist.’”
(Andrew Forge, “Round the London Galleries,”
The Listener
,
28
November 1957)
Souza with the present lot in the background
Ida Kar,
Francis Newton Souza
, 1961