Francis Newton Souza (Indian, 1924 - 2002)

"Portrait of Martim Afonso", 1965. Acrylic on canvas, signed and dated upper right corner, artist's name, title, date, and size inscribed verso, unframed.

Provenance: From the collection of the artist and his family. This lot is accompanied by a notarized copy of certificate signed by the artist. The authenticity of this lot is further confirmed by Barbara Zinkant, former wife of the artist.
A pioneer of his time, Francis Newton Souza was the first Indian artist to be recognized globally. Hailed in the west as ‘India’s mystical expressionist,’ his fluid graphic style and thought provoking distortions of the human body evoke an emotional experience, which transforms conventional views.
Also a prolific writer, Francis Newton Souza famously said, “Renaissance painters painted men and women making them look like angels. I paint for angels to show them what men and women really look like.” Far from depicting human beings as perfect God like beings, the distorted faces of Souza’s paintings act as a mirror to reflect the disillusionment of the modern world - post two world wars and an era of colonial exploitation.
Whether he was painting or writing, Souza’s tendency to ‘tell it like it is’ resulted in his ingenious creation of the human form and the ‘head’ in particular. Souza left a blazing trail of his art that reinvents and uniquely depicts the human shape; while his ingenious themes both expose and confront, the excesses of the rich and social hypocrisy.
Some of his most renowned paintings include the ‘Byzantine Series’ (1958) ‘Beasts of Prey’ 1963 as well as the ‘landscapes’ and ‘heads’ he created between the 50s and 60s. Please see http://www.fnsouzafoundation.com/index.php/about-f-n-souza

Condition: Removed from stretcher, heavy surface soils and grime, tears and losses to perimeter of canvas, cracking with some areas of paint lifting from the canvas from having been stored rolled, ongoing pigment loss.