Francis Newton Souza (Goa 1922 - Mumbai 2002)
"Je cherche la beauté davantage que la connaissance. En fait, la connaissance peut être laide."
"I seek Beauty more than knowledge. In fact, knowledge can be ugly."
Francis Newton Souza
Né à Goa, sous l’emprise de cet ancien territoire Portugais, l’univers quotidien de F. N. Souza est un vaste kaléidoscope où s’entrechoquent, se composent et se décomposent sans cesse des influences multiples, culturelles et religieuses. Son environnement direct est celui du Christianisme et de l’Hindouisme, du monothéisme et du polythéisme.
L’œuvre de Francis Newton Souza est d’avantage le fruit défendu d’un contexte culturel que l’enfant légitime d’union intellectuelle. L’esprit devient corps. Le ventre parle. Il est le seul à pouvoir encore exprimer ce que l’esprit ne peut rationaliser. La blessure est charnelle. Il s’agit de coup, de plaisir, de rire et de pleur, de sang et de sperme, de vie et de mort.
Francis Newton Souza est de ces artistes comme il en existe peu. « The true artist », l’artiste vrai, est une expression qu’il aimait utiliser. L’artiste évident !
Comme Van Gogh, Picasso, Bacon ou encore Basquiat et Combas, Souza est un artiste évident.
L’œuvre comme le personnage semble être un condensé de l’idée que l’on se fait communément de l’artiste : entier, excessif et libre.
Singulièrement à mi-chemin entre Picabia et Buffet, Souza a l’inventivité spontanée d’un Picasso, la violence révolutionnaire d’un Basquiat, la folie anthropomorphe d’un Bacon, le mysticisme noir d’un Rouault, l’acidité joyeuse d’un Toulouse Lautrec. Francis Newton Souza est tout cela, et en plus, il est lui : Francis, Newton et Souza.
Œuvre féconde à côté de laquelle nous avons failli passés, comme cela devait être, afin que l'artiste se révèle et que le mythe soit vrai.
F. N. Souza (1924 – 2002), Untitled - Head with Cross, 1966, Watercolour and Ink on Red Paper, 20,5"x15,5" (52x39,4 cm) 25 000 € - 30 000 €
Cette figure est l’un des emblèmes identitaires de Francis Newton Souza. Tête avec croix peinte directement sur un papier rouge, rouge cardinal, subconscient ou non. Tête cruciforme, heaume d’un croisé, l’anamorphose fait œuvre. La métamorphose est une figure de style récurrente en Inde. L’abstraction y est celle du modernisme, celle héritée de Picasso. La facture globale de l’œuvre reste profondément brute, elle s’apparente familialement à Dubuffet. La force éclatante d’un style à la fois naïf et grossier est proche de Chaissac. L’énergie sauvage y est celle du graffiti et est à mi chemin entre Basquiat et Combas. Couvre-chef en chef d’œuvre.
This figure is one of Francis Newton Souza's emblematic icons. A head with a cross painted directly on red paper, a cardinal red, subconscious, or not? A cruciform head, the helmet of a crusader, anamorphosis as a work of art. Metamorphosis is a recurrent stylistic device in India. The abstraction is that of modernism, inherited from Picasso. The overall style of the work remains profoundly indebted to outsider art, belonging to the family of Dubuffet. The striking force of a style both naïve and raw is similar to Chaissac. The savage energy is reminiscent of graffiti and halfway between Basquiat and Combas. Headgear as a masterpiece
Francis Newton Souza (Goa 1922 - Mumbai 2002)
"I seek Beauty more than knowledge. In fact, knowledge can be ugly."
Francis Newton Souza
Born in Goa, under the influence of this former Portuguese territory, the daily universe of F. N. Souza is a vast kaleidoscope where multiple religious and cultural influences clash, combine, and fall apart. His direct environment is that of Christianity and Hinduism, monotheism and polytheism.
The work of Francis Newton Souza is more the forbidden fruit of a cultural context than a legitimate child of an intellectual union. The spirit becomes the body. The stomach speaks. He is the only artist who can still express what the mind cannot rationalize. The wound is a physical one – a blow, of pleasure, laughter and tears, blood and sperm, life and death.
Francis Newton Souza is one of those rare types of artist. "The true artist" is one expression he loved to use. The obvious artist! Like Van Gogh, Picasso, Bacon, as well as Basquiat and Combas, Souza is obviously an artist. The work like the person seems to be a condensation of the idea most people have of the artist: completely absorbed, excessive, and free.
Uniquely placed halfway between Picabia and Buffet, Souza has the spontaneous inventiveness of a Picasso, the revolutionary violence of a Basquiat, the anthropomorphic insanity of a Bacon, the black mysticism of a Rouault, the joyous acerbity of a Toulouse Lautrec. Francis Newton Souza is all this, and more importantly, he is himself: Francis, Newton, and Souza. A prolific oeuvre which we have almost missed, as it should be so that the artist can reveal himself and ensure that the myth of the artist remain true to the end.
Studied at J.J. School of Art, Mumbai; Central School of Art, London; Ecole des Beaux Arts, Paris
Founded Progressive Artists Group at Mumbai, 1947
Guggenheim International Award 1958; Kalidasa Samman, 1998-99
Selected exhibitions
1947 - Progressive Artists Group, Mumbai.
1951 - Indian Embassy, London.
1954 - Gallery Creuze, Paris, Venice Biennale, Italy. Institute of Contemporary Arts, London.
Gallery One, London, 1955, '57, '59, '60, '61
1963 - Kumar Gallery, New Delhi, 1962, '63, '65. Kumar Gallery, Calcutta.
1964 - Exhibition of Drawings: Delacroix to Souza, Grosvenor Gallery, London.
Taj Gallery, Mumbai, 1965. Grosvenor Gallery, London, 1966. Arts 38, London, 1975, 76
Dhoomimal Gallery, New Delhi, 1976, '83, '86, '93
1982 - Modern Indian Painting, Hirschorn Museum & Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C.
1985 - Pundole Art Gallery, Mumbai.
1997 - Art Heritage, New Delhi, L.T.G. Gallery, New Delhi. The Modern Inaugural Show, National Gallery of Modern Art, Mumbai, 1996. Julian Hartnolls Gallery, London.
1998 - Bose Pacia Modern, New York. The Window, Mumbai. One-man show at BosePacia Modern Gallery, New Delhi.
1999 - Copeland Fine Art Gallery, Columbus, Ohio. Kumar Gallery, New Delhi. Souza: Latest Works, Copeland Fine Art Gallery, Columbus, Ohio. One-man show at Kumar Gallery, New Delhi, entitled Retrospective I, Selected works 1950-1999.
2000 - Retrospective II, F. N Souza, 1945 – 2000, Kumar Gallery, New Delhi.
2001 - Francis Newton Souza, Rare Works 1965 – 2001, Gallery 88, Calcutta. Indian Contemporary Fine Art, with Saffronart and Apparao Galleries in Los Angeles. The Demonic Line, An Exhibition of Drawings, 1940 – 1964 by F.N. Souza, curated by Yashodhara Dalmia at the Delhi Art Gallery. Retrospective III, F.N Souza, Important Paintings from Fifties and Sixties, Kumar Gallery, New Delhi.
2002 - Souza in Bombay & Goa, Art Musings Gallery, Bombay. F.N. Souza and Baiju Parthan presented by Saffronart and Apparao Galleries, Mumbai.
Selected posthumous exhibitions
2002 - Grosvenor Gallery, London, Souza and Friends.
2003 - Grosvenor Gallery London, Modern Indian Painting. Francis Newton Souza: Works on paper, Saffronart, Mumbai. F.N Souza: A Definitive Retrospective, Gallery Artsindia, New York. Manifestations, Delhi Art Gallery.
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.
2005 - 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.
2005/2006 - F. N. Souza, Religion & Erotica: Tate Britain, London. Self-Portrait, Renaissance to contemporary: National Portrait Gallery, London.
Francis Newton Souza
