F N Souza
Select Solo Exhibitions:
ONLINE:F.N.Souza: 52 Years On Paper:1946 -1998, Grosvenor Gallery, St.James's, London, UK in 2021.
FN Souza: Luminous Solitude , Akara Art, Colaba, Mumbai, India in 2019.
Souza in the 40's, Grosvenor Gallery, St.James's, London, UK in 2018.
F.N.Souza: Works on Paper, Aicon Gallery, New York, Greenwich Village, New York, USA in 2014.
F.N.Souza: Black on Black, Grosvenor Gallery, St.James's, London, UK in 2013.
Group Exhibitions:
2022
Black Orpheus:Jacob Lawrence and the Mbari Club, The Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Virginia, USA.
Monochrome Multitudes, Smart Museum of Art, University of Chicago, Hyde Park, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
Group Show, Sakshi Gallery, Colaba, Mumbai, India.
South Asian Modern Art 2022, Grosvenor Gallery, St.James's, London, UK.
Postwar Modern-New Art in Britain 1945-1965 , Barbican Art Gallery, London, UK.
Group Show, Sakshi Gallery, Colaba, Mumbai, India.
2021
Primitivism and Modern Indian Art, DAG Modern, New Delhi, New Delhi, India.
2020
South Asian Art:1820-2020, Grosvenor Gallery, St.James's, London, UK.
Midnight's Family, Ben Uri Gallery & Museum, St.John's Wood, London, UK.
South Asian Modern Art 2020, Grosvenor Gallery, St.James's, London, UK.
Primitivism & Modern Indian Art, DAG Modern, New York, Midtown, New York, USA.
The Sixties Show, DAG Modern, Mumbai, Kala Ghoda, Mumbai, India.
New Images of Man, Blum & Poe, Los Angeles, Palms, Los Angeles, California, USA.
The Fifties Show, DAG Modern, New Delhi, India.
2019
The Seventies Show, DAG Modern, New Delhi,India.
Primitivism, DAG Modern, Mumbai, Kala Ghoda, Mumbai, India.
Exploring Colours, Art Pilgrim, Gurgaon, India.
The Sixties Show, DAG Modern, New Delhi,India
Drawing: A New Chapter,Art Pilgrim,Gurgaon,India
Thoughts on Portraiture,Museum and Art Gallery, Birmingham Museums,Birmingham,UK
South Asian Modern Art,Grosvenor Gallery,St.James's,London,UK
2018
Bacon,Freud and The painting of the school of London,Hungarian National Gallery,Budapest,Hungary
The Progressive Revolution: Modern Art for a New India,Asia Society and Museum,New York,Upper East Side,New York,USA
Group Exhibition,Galerie Mirchandani + Steinruecke,Colaba,Mumbai,India
New Configurations:Vignettes from the collection in recent years,Kiran Nadar Museum of Art,Noida,Noida,India
The Summer Show,DAG Modern,New Delhi,New Delhi,India
All Too Human: Bacon,Freud and a Century of Painting Life,Tate Britain,Millbank,London,UK
2017
Parapolitics:Cultural Freedom and the Cold War,Haus der Kulturen der Welt,Berlin,Germany
South Asian Modernists 1953-63,The Whitworth Art Gallery,Manchester,UK
South Asian Modern Masters,Grosvenor Gallery,St.James's,London,UK
Masterpieces Of Indian Modern Art.Edition II,DAG Modern,New Delhi,New Delhi,India
2016
Memory And Identity:Indian Artists Abroad,DAG Modern,New Delhi,New Delhi,India
Kama
Chameleon:Shaw,Souza,Somnath,Akara Art,Colaba, Mumbai,India
Womanhood: Through The Eyes of Indian Modern and Contemporary Art,Tao Art Gallery,Mumbai,India
Picking up the Pieces:Collage in Post War Britain,Grosvenor Gallery,St.James's,London,UK
Groupe
Mobile,Bétonsalon,13e,Paris,France
2015
India Modern: Narratives From 20th Century Indian Art,DAG
Modern,Mumbai,Kala Ghoda,Mumbai,India
India Modern: Narratives From 20th Century Indian Art,DAG
Modern,New Delhi,New Delhi,India
India Modern: Narratives From 20th Century Indian Art,DAG
Modern,New Delhi,New Delhi,India
Art Exchange,Sakshi
Gallery,Colaba,Mumbai,India
Indian Abstracts -An Absence of
Form,DAG Modern,New Delhi,New Delhi,India
India Modern: Narratives From 20th Century Indian Art,DAG
Modern,New York,Midtown,New York,USA
After Midnight:Indian Modernism To Contemporary India
1947/1997,Queens Museum of Art,Queens,New York,USA
The Ecstasy of Art –1,Tao Art Gallery,Mumbai,India
2014
Indian Divine: Gods & Goddesses In 19Th And 20Th Century,DAG
Modern,New Delhi,New Delhi,India
Shifting the Paradigm,Aicon Gallery,New York,Greenwich
Village,New York,USA
Indian Divine: Gods & Goddesses in 19th and 20th Century Modern Art,DAG Modern,New Delhi,India
2013
Manifestations X:75 Artists 20th Century Indian Art,DAG Modern,New Delhi,India
Mumbai Modern:Progressive Artists Group 1947-2013,DAG Modern,New Delhi,India
The Form and the Figure Pt.II,Aicon Gallery,New York,Greenwich Village,New York,USA
Modern Masters,Grosvenor Gallery,St.James's,London,UK
The Drawing Wall,Vadehra Art Gallery(D-40),New Delhi,India
Panoplism,Nature Morte,Dhan Mill,New Delhi,India
Past Parallels:The Art of Modern & Pre-Modern India,Aicon Gallery,New York,Greenwich Village,New York,USA
The Naked and the Nude -The Body in Indian Modern Art,DAG Modern,New Delhi,India
2012
Manisfestions VIII-20th certury Indian Art,DAG Modern,New Delhi,India
Iconic Processions,Aicon Gallery,New York,Greenwich Village,New York,USA
2010
Figure/Landscape:Part Two,Aicon Gallery,London,Mayfair,London,UK
2009
Bharat Ratna!Jewels of Modern Indian Art,Museum of Fine Arts,Boston,Back Bay,Boston,Massachusetts,USA
Tracing TIme,Works on Paper,Bodhi Art,Mumbai-Kalaghoda,Kala Ghoda,Mumbai,India
Francis Newton Souza, whose works figure among the most expensive Indian contemporary paintings, was born on the 12th of April 1924 in Saligao, Goa. He was a founding member of the Progressive Artists' Group of Bombay. Souza is one of the most
Francis Newton Souza, whose works figure among the most expensive Indian contemporary paintings, was born on the 12th of April 1924 in Saligao, Goa. He was a founding member of the Progressive Artists' Group of Bombay. Souza is one of the most prolific, prominent, and controversial modernists of South Asian art. Souza’s imageries reveled in the grotesque and oscillated between the themes of death, agony, and eroticism. The tormented portraits of Souza unraveled the underlying repression of the human subject. Their struggles to overcome societal regulations, traditional taboos, and religious restrictions, were always externally revealed through the scar-like features on their face. In the post-independent Indian cultural landscape, Souza’s faces dwelled as specters that will haunt us forever, constantly reminding us about the individual pulled down in the vortex of conventions.
Souza's style exhibited both decadence and primitivism. His unrestrained and graphic style creates thought provoking and powerful images. His subjects ranged from still life, landscape and nude to Christian themes such as the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Souza’s paintings rejected convention and the banality of everyday life, and many of them explored erotic subjects. 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 the 18th and 19th century Europe and the path-breaking paintings of the moderns. In his drawings, he uses line with economy, while still managing to capture fine detail in his forms; or he uses a profusion of crosshatched strokes that make up the overall structure of his subject.
In 1959, a collection of his autobiographical essays,‘ Words and Lines’, was published, and in 1962 a monograph on his work by Edwin Mullins was published as well. Two retrospectives of his work were organized by Art Heritage, New Delhi, in 1986 and 1996.Souza also participated in a work-live programme in Los Angeles in 2001.Souza passed away in 2002.Some important posthumous exhibition of his work includes, ‘F.N. Souza’ in New York, in 2008;‘F.N. Souza: Religion & Erotica’ at Tate Britain, London,in 2005-06;‘Self-Portrait:Renaissance to Contemporary’ at a gallery, in London, in 2005;and ‘Francis Newton Souza’in galleries in New York and London, in 2005.
Academics
He started his education from St.Xavier’s college but was expelled for his graffiti drawings all over the restroom. Later he joined the Sir J.J.School of Art in Bombay.
Awards
John Moore Prize,Liverpool,1957
Italian Government Scholarship,1960
Guggenheim International Award,New York,1967
Show less
Francis Newton Souza, whose works figure among the most expensive Indian contemporary paintings, was born on the 12th of April 1924 in Saligao, Goa. He was a founding member of the Progressive Artists' Group of Bombay. Souza is one of the most prolific, prominent, and controversial modernists of
Francis Newton Souza, whose works figure among the most expensive Indian contemporary paintings, was born on the 12th of April 1924 in Saligao, Goa. He was a founding member of the Progressive Artists' Group of Bombay. Souza is one of the most prolific, prominent, and controversial modernists of South Asian art. Souza’s imageries reveled in the grotesque and oscillated between the themes of death, agony, and eroticism. The tormented portraits of Souza unraveled the underlying repression of the human subject. Their struggles to overcome societal regulations, traditional taboos, and religious restrictions, were always externally revealed through the scar-like features on their face. In the post-independent Indian cultural landscape, Souza’s faces dwelled as specters that will haunt us forever, constantly reminding us about the individual pulled down in the vortex of conventions.
Souza's style exhibited both decadence and primitivism. His unrestrained and graphic style creates thought provoking and powerful images. His subjects ranged from still life, landscape and nude to Christian themes such as the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Souza’s paintings rejected convention and the banality of everyday life, and many of them explored erotic subjects. 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 the 18th and 19th century Europe and the path-breaking paintings of the moderns. In his drawings, he uses line with economy, while still managing to capture fine detail in his forms; or he uses a profusion of crosshatched strokes that make up the overall structure of his subject.
In 1959, a collection of his autobiographical essays,‘ Words and Lines’, was published, and in 1962 a monograph on his work by Edwin Mullins was published as well. Two retrospectives of his work were organized by Art Heritage, New Delhi, in 1986 and 1996.Souza also participated in a work-live programme in Los Angeles in 2001.Souza passed away in 2002.Some important posthumous exhibition of his work includes, ‘F.N. Souza’ in New York, in 2008;‘F.N. Souza: Religion & Erotica’ at Tate Britain, London,in 2005-06;‘Self-Portrait:Renaissance to Contemporary’ at a gallery, in London, in 2005;and ‘Francis Newton Souza’in galleries in New York and London, in 2005.
Academics
He started his education from St.Xavier’s college but was expelled for his graffiti drawings all over the restroom. Later he joined the Sir J.J.School of Art in Bombay.
Awards
John Moore Prize,Liverpool,1957
Italian Government Scholarship,1960
Guggenheim International Award,New York,1967
Select Solo Exhibitions:
ONLINE:F.N.Souza: 52 Years On Paper:1946 -1998, Grosvenor Gallery, St.James's, London, UK in 2021.
FN Souza: Luminous Solitude , Akara Art, Colaba, Mumbai, India in 2019.
Souza in the 40's, Grosvenor Gallery, St.James's, London, UK in 2018.
F.N.Souza: Works on Paper, Aicon Gallery, New York, Greenwich Village, New York, USA in 2014.
F.N.Souza: Black on Black, Grosvenor Gallery, St.James's, London, UK in 2013.
Group Exhibitions:
2022
Black Orpheus:Jacob Lawrence and the Mbari Club, The Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Virginia, USA.
Monochrome Multitudes, Smart Museum of Art, University of Chicago, Hyde Park, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
Group Show, Sakshi Gallery, Colaba, Mumbai, India.
South Asian Modern Art 2022, Grosvenor Gallery, St.James's, London, UK.
Postwar Modern-New Art in Britain 1945-1965 , Barbican Art Gallery, London, UK.
Group Show, Sakshi Gallery, Colaba, Mumbai, India.
2021
Primitivism and Modern Indian Art, DAG Modern, New Delhi, New Delhi, India.
2020
South Asian Art:1820-2020, Grosvenor Gallery, St.James's, London, UK.
Midnight's Family, Ben Uri Gallery & Museum, St.John's Wood, London, UK.
South Asian Modern Art 2020, Grosvenor Gallery, St.James's, London, UK.
Primitivism & Modern Indian Art, DAG Modern, New York, Midtown, New York, USA.
The Sixties Show, DAG Modern, Mumbai, Kala Ghoda, Mumbai, India.
New Images of Man, Blum & Poe, Los Angeles, Palms, Los Angeles, California, USA.
The Fifties Show, DAG Modern, New Delhi, India.
2019
The Seventies Show, DAG Modern, New Delhi,India.
Primitivism, DAG Modern, Mumbai, Kala Ghoda, Mumbai, India.
Exploring Colours, Art Pilgrim, Gurgaon, India.
The Sixties Show, DAG Modern, New Delhi,India
Drawing: A New Chapter,Art Pilgrim,Gurgaon,India
Thoughts on Portraiture,Museum and Art Gallery, Birmingham Museums,Birmingham,UK
South Asian Modern Art,Grosvenor Gallery,St.James's,London,UK
2018
Bacon,Freud and The painting of the school of London,Hungarian National Gallery,Budapest,Hungary
The Progressive Revolution: Modern Art for a New India,Asia Society and Museum,New York,Upper East Side,New York,USA
Group Exhibition,Galerie Mirchandani + Steinruecke,Colaba,Mumbai,India
New Configurations:Vignettes from the collection in recent years,Kiran Nadar Museum of Art,Noida,Noida,India
The Summer Show,DAG Modern,New Delhi,New Delhi,India
All Too Human: Bacon,Freud and a Century of Painting Life,Tate Britain,Millbank,London,UK
2017
Parapolitics:Cultural Freedom and the Cold War,Haus der Kulturen der Welt,Berlin,Germany
South Asian Modernists 1953-63,The Whitworth Art Gallery,Manchester,UK
South Asian Modern Masters,Grosvenor Gallery,St.James's,London,UK
Masterpieces Of Indian Modern Art.Edition II,DAG Modern,New Delhi,New Delhi,India
2016
Memory And Identity:Indian Artists Abroad,DAG Modern,New Delhi,New Delhi,India
Kama
Chameleon:Shaw,Souza,Somnath,Akara Art,Colaba, Mumbai,India
Womanhood: Through The Eyes of Indian Modern and Contemporary Art,Tao Art Gallery,Mumbai,India
Picking up the Pieces:Collage in Post War Britain,Grosvenor Gallery,St.James's,London,UK
Groupe
Mobile,Bétonsalon,13e,Paris,France
2015
India Modern: Narratives From 20th Century Indian Art,DAG
Modern,Mumbai,Kala Ghoda,Mumbai,India
India Modern: Narratives From 20th Century Indian Art,DAG
Modern,New Delhi,New Delhi,India
India Modern: Narratives From 20th Century Indian Art,DAG
Modern,New Delhi,New Delhi,India
Art Exchange,Sakshi
Gallery,Colaba,Mumbai,India
Indian Abstracts -An Absence of
Form,DAG Modern,New Delhi,New Delhi,India
India Modern: Narratives From 20th Century Indian Art,DAG
Modern,New York,Midtown,New York,USA
After Midnight:Indian Modernism To Contemporary India
1947/1997,Queens Museum of Art,Queens,New York,USA
The Ecstasy of Art –1,Tao Art Gallery,Mumbai,India
2014
Indian Divine: Gods & Goddesses In 19Th And 20Th Century,DAG
Modern,New Delhi,New Delhi,India
Shifting the Paradigm,Aicon Gallery,New York,Greenwich
Village,New York,USA
Indian Divine: Gods & Goddesses in 19th and 20th Century Modern Art,DAG Modern,New Delhi,India
2013
Manifestations X:75 Artists 20th Century Indian Art,DAG Modern,New Delhi,India
Mumbai Modern:Progressive Artists Group 1947-2013,DAG Modern,New Delhi,India
The Form and the Figure Pt.II,Aicon Gallery,New York,Greenwich Village,New York,USA
Modern Masters,Grosvenor Gallery,St.James's,London,UK
The Drawing Wall,Vadehra Art Gallery(D-40),New Delhi,India
Panoplism,Nature Morte,Dhan Mill,New Delhi,India
Past Parallels:The Art of Modern & Pre-Modern India,Aicon Gallery,New York,Greenwich Village,New York,USA
The Naked and the Nude -The Body in Indian Modern Art,DAG Modern,New Delhi,India
2012
Manisfestions VIII-20th certury Indian Art,DAG Modern,New Delhi,India
Iconic Processions,Aicon Gallery,New York,Greenwich Village,New York,USA
2010
Figure/Landscape:Part Two,Aicon Gallery,London,Mayfair,London,UK
2009
Bharat Ratna!Jewels of Modern Indian Art,Museum of Fine Arts,Boston,Back Bay,Boston,Massachusetts,USA
Tracing TIme,Works on Paper,Bodhi Art,Mumbai-Kalaghoda,Kala Ghoda,Mumbai,India
Show less
Dotwalk Shows
What's in a Face?
The Sensation of Gestures - IAF 2023 Parallel
Select Solo Exhibitions:
ONLINE:F.N.Souza: 52 Years On Paper:1946 -1998, Grosvenor Gallery, St.James's, London, UK in 2021.
FN Souza: Luminous Solitude , Akara Art, Colaba, Mumbai, India in 2019.
Souza in the 40's, Grosvenor Gallery, St.James's, London, UK in 2018.
F.N.Souza: Works on Paper, Aicon Gallery, New York, Greenwich Village, New York, USA in 2014.
F.N.Souza: Black on Black, Grosvenor Gallery, St.James's, London, UK in 2013.
Group Exhibitions:
2022
Black Orpheus:Jacob Lawrence and the Mbari Club, The Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Virginia, USA.
Monochrome Multitudes, Smart Museum of Art, University of Chicago, Hyde Park, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
Group Show, Sakshi Gallery, Colaba, Mumbai, India.
South Asian Modern Art 2022, Grosvenor Gallery, St.James's, London, UK.
Postwar Modern-New Art in Britain 1945-1965 , Barbican Art Gallery, London, UK.
Group Show, Sakshi Gallery, Colaba, Mumbai, India.
2021
Primitivism and Modern Indian Art, DAG Modern, New Delhi, New Delhi, India.
2020
South Asian Art:1820-2020, Grosvenor Gallery, St.James's, London, UK.
Midnight's Family, Ben Uri Gallery & Museum, St.John's Wood, London, UK.
South Asian Modern Art 2020, Grosvenor Gallery, St.James's, London, UK.
Primitivism & Modern Indian Art, DAG Modern, New York, Midtown, New York, USA.
The Sixties Show, DAG Modern, Mumbai, Kala Ghoda, Mumbai, India.
New Images of Man, Blum & Poe, Los Angeles, Palms, Los Angeles, California, USA.
The Fifties Show, DAG Modern, New Delhi, India.
2019
The Seventies Show, DAG Modern, New Delhi,India.
Primitivism, DAG Modern, Mumbai, Kala Ghoda, Mumbai, India.
Exploring Colours, Art Pilgrim, Gurgaon, India.
The Sixties Show, DAG Modern, New Delhi,India
Drawing: A New Chapter,Art Pilgrim,Gurgaon,India
Thoughts on Portraiture,Museum and Art Gallery, Birmingham Museums,Birmingham,UK
South Asian Modern Art,Grosvenor Gallery,St.James's,London,UK
2018
Bacon,Freud and The painting of the school of London,Hungarian National Gallery,Budapest,Hungary
The Progressive Revolution: Modern Art for a New India,Asia Society and Museum,New York,Upper East Side,New York,USA
Group Exhibition,Galerie Mirchandani + Steinruecke,Colaba,Mumbai,India
New Configurations:Vignettes from the collection in recent years,Kiran Nadar Museum of Art,Noida,Noida,India
The Summer Show,DAG Modern,New Delhi,New Delhi,India
All Too Human: Bacon,Freud and a Century of Painting Life,Tate Britain,Millbank,London,UK
2017
Parapolitics:Cultural Freedom and the Cold War,Haus der Kulturen der Welt,Berlin,Germany
South Asian Modernists 1953-63,The Whitworth Art Gallery,Manchester,UK
South Asian Modern Masters,Grosvenor Gallery,St.James's,London,UK
Masterpieces Of Indian Modern Art.Edition II,DAG Modern,New Delhi,New Delhi,India
2016
Memory And Identity:Indian Artists Abroad,DAG Modern,New Delhi,New Delhi,India
Kama
Chameleon:Shaw,Souza,Somnath,Akara Art,Colaba, Mumbai,India
Womanhood: Through The Eyes of Indian Modern and Contemporary Art,Tao Art Gallery,Mumbai,India
Picking up the Pieces:Collage in Post War Britain,Grosvenor Gallery,St.James's,London,UK
Groupe
Mobile,Bétonsalon,13e,Paris,France
2015
India Modern: Narratives From 20th Century Indian Art,DAG
Modern,Mumbai,Kala Ghoda,Mumbai,India
India Modern: Narratives From 20th Century Indian Art,DAG
Modern,New Delhi,New Delhi,India
India Modern: Narratives From 20th Century Indian Art,DAG
Modern,New Delhi,New Delhi,India
Art Exchange,Sakshi
Gallery,Colaba,Mumbai,India
Indian Abstracts -An Absence of
Form,DAG Modern,New Delhi,New Delhi,India
India Modern: Narratives From 20th Century Indian Art,DAG
Modern,New York,Midtown,New York,USA
After Midnight:Indian Modernism To Contemporary India
1947/1997,Queens Museum of Art,Queens,New York,USA
The Ecstasy of Art –1,Tao Art Gallery,Mumbai,India
2014
Indian Divine: Gods & Goddesses In 19Th And 20Th Century,DAG
Modern,New Delhi,New Delhi,India
Shifting the Paradigm,Aicon Gallery,New York,Greenwich
Village,New York,USA
Indian Divine: Gods & Goddesses in 19th and 20th Century Modern Art,DAG Modern,New Delhi,India
2013
Manifestations X:75 Artists 20th Century Indian Art,DAG Modern,New Delhi,India
Mumbai Modern:Progressive Artists Group 1947-2013,DAG Modern,New Delhi,India
The Form and the Figure Pt.II,Aicon Gallery,New York,Greenwich Village,New York,USA
Modern Masters,Grosvenor Gallery,St.James's,London,UK
The Drawing Wall,Vadehra Art Gallery(D-40),New Delhi,India
Panoplism,Nature Morte,Dhan Mill,New Delhi,India
Past Parallels:The Art of Modern & Pre-Modern India,Aicon Gallery,New York,Greenwich Village,New York,USA
The Naked and the Nude -The Body in Indian Modern Art,DAG Modern,New Delhi,India
2012
Manisfestions VIII-20th certury Indian Art,DAG Modern,New Delhi,India
Iconic Processions,Aicon Gallery,New York,Greenwich Village,New York,USA
2010
Figure/Landscape:Part Two,Aicon Gallery,London,Mayfair,London,UK
2009
Bharat Ratna!Jewels of Modern Indian Art,Museum of Fine Arts,Boston,Back Bay,Boston,Massachusetts,USA
Tracing TIme,Works on Paper,Bodhi Art,Mumbai-Kalaghoda,Kala Ghoda,Mumbai,India
