Download PDF (203 K)FRANCIS NEWTON SOUZA (1924 – 2002)
Born 1924, Saligaon, Goa, India.
Died 2002, Bombay, India.
Diploma in Painting, Sir J.J. School of Art, Mumbai (1940-45)
Italian Government Scholarship, study tour of Italy (1960)
Francis Newton Souza was born in India in 1924 and is of Goan Christian origin. As one of the co-founders of the Progressive Artists' Group in 1947, along with M.F. Husain, Raza, Ara and others, Souza led the edge of the Indian modernist art movement. He is widely recognised as a leading modernist and was the only Indian artist to be included in Tate Modern's group exhibition on 20th Century Modernism in 2002.
An iconoclast known for his powerful imagery, F. N. Souza unrestrained and graphic style created much controversy in his life and work. His repertoire of subjects covers still life, landscape, nudes and icons of Christianity, rendered boldly in a frenzied distortion of form. Souza's paintings express defiance and impatience with convention and the banality of everyday life.
Souza's works have reflected the influence of various schools of art: the folk art of his native Goa, the full-blooded paintings of the Renaissance, the religious fervor of the Catholic Church, the landscapes of 18th and 19th century Europe and the path-breaking work of the cubists. A recurrent theme in his work is the sexual tensions and friction within the male and female relationship and their ensuing conflicts. In drawings, Souza uses line with economy but captures fine detail in his forms; or uses a profusion of crosshatched strokes that make up the overall structure of his subject.
In 1942, Souza was expelled from the J.J. School of Art for partaking in the 'Quit India' movement. He left for London in 1949, making his mark on the European art scene and rose to fame with his 1955 one-man show at Gallery One, London – the same year his autobiographical essay 'Nirvana of a Maggot' was published. Souza exhibited internationally during his lifetime, solo and group shows include the Institute of Contemporary Arts, London (1954); Venice Biennale (1954); Guggenheim Museum, USA (1958); Whitechapel Art Gallery, London (1958); Tate Gallery (1968); Museum of Modern Art, Sao Paulo/Rio de Janeiro (1961); Guggenheim Foundation, USA (1967); Museum of Modern Art, Oxford, UK (1982); Royal Academy of Art, London (1982); Hirschhorn Museum, Washington D.C (1982); Retrospectives include India House, London (1951, organised by Mr. V.K. Krishna Menon, then High Commissioner), and two organised by Art Heritage Gallery, Delhi (1986, 1996).
Select Solo and Group Exhibitions – Posthumous
2008 Summer collection, works by modern and contemporary south Asian artists,
Aicon Gallery, London
2008 Winter Moderns, an exhibit of five senior modern Indian artists - M.F. Husain,
F.N. Souza, Shyamal Dutta Ray, Satish Gujral and B. Prabha, Aicon Gallery,
New York
2008 'The Ghost of Souza', an exhibit of works by acclaimed artist Francis Newton
Souza, together with Indian and Pakistani artists influenced by Souza's work at
Aicon Gallery, New York
2007 From the Vault, Aicon Gallery, London and New York
Bacon, Freud, Mehta, Souza, Grosvenor Vadehra, New Delhi
2005-6 F. N. Souza, Religion & Erotica: Tate Britain, London
Self-Portrait, Renaissance to contemporary: National Portrait Gallery, London
2005 Francis Newton Souza, Saffronart and Grosvenor Gallery, London/New York
Ashta Nayak: Eight Pioneers of Indian Art, Gallery ArtsIndia, New York
Modern Indian Paintings, Grosvenor Gallery, London
A Tribute to F. N. SOUZA, Kumar Gallery, New Delhi /Manifestations III, Nehru Centre, Mumbai; Rabindra Bhavan, New Delhi, and Delhi Art Gallery, New Delhi
2004 Manifestations II, Jehangir Gallery and the Delhi Art Gallery
Ethos: Contemporary Indian Art, Indigo Blue Art, Singapore
Souza in London, curated by Yashodhara Dalmia from the Bhayana family collection, British Council, New Delhi
2003 Modern Indian Painting, Grosvenor Gallery London
Francis Newton Souza: Works on paper, Saffronart, Mumbai
F.N Souza: A Definitive Retrospective, Gallery Artsindia, New York
Manifestations, Delhi Art Gallery
2002 Souza and Friends, Grosvenor Gallery, London,.
Souza in Bombay and Goa, Art Musings Gallery, Mumbai
2001 Souza: A Modern Myth, Gallery 88, Calcutta
Select Solo Exhibitions
1999 Copeland Fine Art Gallery, Columbus, Ohio, USA
1998 Bose Pacia Modern, New York
1997 Souza: A Retrospective, Julian Hartnolls Gallery, London
1996 Art Heritage, NEw Delhi
'Souza from the Alkazi Collection', Academy of Fine Arts and Literature New Delhi
The Acrylics of Souza, L.T.G. Art Gallery, New Delhi
1995 The Chemicals of Souza, L. T.G. Art Gallery, New Delhi
1993 Souza, 1940s-1990s Dhoomimal Art Gallery, New Delhi
1983 Souza in the Forties, Dhoomimal Art Gallery, New Delhi
1985 Pundole Art Gallery, Mumbai
1976 Dhoomimal Art Gallery,New Delhi
1975 76 Arts 38, London.
1968 London Arts Gallery Detroit, USA.
1966 Dhoomimal Art Gallery, New Delhi
1966 Grosvenor Gallery, London
1963 Taj Gallery Mumbai.
1962 Kumar Gallery, New Delhi.
1961 Gallery One, London
62 North Audley Street London.
1960 Gallery One, London
1959 Gallery One, London
1957 Gallery One, London
1955 Gallery One, London.
1954 Institute of Contemporary Arts, London
Gallery Creuze,London
1951 Indian Embassy, London
Select Group Exhibitions
2001 Souza & Baiju, Saffronart and Apparao Galleries, Mumbai
1996 National Gallery of Modern Art, Mumbai
1987 Coups de Coeur, Halles de L'Ile, Geneva
1986 Dhoomimal Art Gallery, New Delhi
1985 East-West Visual Arts Encounter, Bombay
1982 Modern Indian Paintings, Hirschorn Museum & Sculpture Garden Washington D.C.
India: Myth and Reality, Museum of Modern Art, Oxford, UK
Contemporary Indian Art, Royal Academy, London
1977 Commonwealth Artists of Fame, London
1972 Minneapolis International Art Festival, USA
1968 Tate Gallery, London
1967 Guggenheim Foundation USA
1965 Art Now in India, Arts Council of Great Britain, London
1964 Grosvenor Gallery, 1964
1962 Commonwealth Institute, London
1961 Museum of Modern Art, Sao Paulo/Rio de Janeiro
1958 Guggenheim Museum, USA
Whitechapel Art Gallery, London
1957 John Moore's Exhibition, Walker Art Gallery Liverpool
1956,57,59,60 Gallery One, London
1954 Venice Biennale Italy
Institute of Contemporary Arts, London
1949 Bombay Art Society Salon, Mumbai
1948 Progressive Artists' Group, inaugural exhibition
Awards
1960 Italian Government Scholarship (through the British Council)
1967 Guggenheim International Award, New York
1957 John Moores Prize, Liverpool
Public Collections
National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi
Baroda Museum, Baroda
National Gallery of Modern Art, Mumbai
CIMA – Centre International Modern Art, Calcutta
Delhi Art Gallery, New Delhi
Tate, London, UK
Glenbarra Museum, Himeji, Japan