| 1924 — 2001
An iconoclast known for his powerful imagery Francis Newton Souza was born into an orthodox Roman Catholic family in Goa in1924. He went to Bombay to study painting at the J.J. School of Art. He was expelled from the art school before he could graduate because of his perceived anti-establishment attitude. It was again this spirit of independence which made him rebel against the existing art scene in India which was dominated by out-moded British academic and the revivalist Bengal School. In his search for a new vocabulary, Souza, like many other rebellious young painters of his generation began to look towards Europe especially to Paris for inspiration. Souza was the catalyst who along with other radical young painters like M.F. Husain, Akbar Padamsee, S.H. Raza, and V.S. Gaitonde, K.H. Ara and H.A.Gade formed the Progressive Artists Group in Bombay in 1947.As the leader of the group Souza wrote the manifesto. The forming of the Progressive Artists Group and India gaining independence soon after was almost symbolic of India’s new identity. By 1949, however, the PAG group disbanded and Souza left for London. Although the group had disbanded in India, its spirit was kept alive in France by Souza, Raza, Padamsee and other members. They would experiment together and sometimes, even painted similar subjects. Another source of influence were the stained glass windows of the medieval churches of Europe.The effect of these diverse influences came to be reflected in Souza’s works as bold linear imagery and flat colours set against a two dimensional picture plane and became dominant stylistic features of Souza’s paintings which he used to create powerful and provocative imageries.
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