Creating the Contours of Modernity

In a long drawn string of artists and a splendid tradition of arts, India is blessed in the field of aesthetics. Carrying forward this legacy, Francis Souza was no doubt the best artist of modern time.

A black and white still of Francis Souza; Source: Public Domain

After his death in 2002, Indian Modernist M.F. Husain paid a moving tribute to the artist. ‘Souza was my mentor,’ he said. ‘He is the most significant painter, almost a genius.’

In 1924, India saw the dawn of one its most momentous modernist painters ever. Born in Goa on the 12th of April, 1924, Francis Newton Souza was truly a wizard with a paintbrush for a wand.

His subjects went from still life, scenes, and nudes to Christian topics like the Torturous killing of Jesus Christ. Souza's artistic creations dismissed show and the triviality of regular daily existence, and a significant number of them delved deep into sensual subjects.

As a little kid, Souza moved with his mother from Goa, which was then, a Portuguese Catholic state, to Bombay, and proceeded to go to St Xavier's Secondary School, run by the Jesuits. It was here that he built up an interest in drawing, considering oleographs, prints and pictures imported  all the way from Europe.

He was a bright and insubordinate kid. He would end up being expelled at the age of 15 for, among different reasons, portraying explicit pictures on the walls of the school restrooms.

He would then enrol in the Sir J.J. School of Craftsmanship, in Bombay to further his studies in art but would then be removed for his avid participation in the anti-British struggle. As was custom at the time, Souza joined the Communist Party of India. And it was there that he helped establish the progressive Artists Group alongside other fellow artists such as Sayed Haider Raza and M.F. Husain.

In 1949 he left India to live in London, where, while battling to make a living as a craftsman, he squeezed out a living by taking up a job in journalism.

The year 1955 proved to be the milestone in his life with his show being sold out, making a solid establishment of his standing in the artisan community.

In 1967 Souza got the Guggenheim International Honour, which was at that point the most noteworthy financial award given to artists, and would then move to New York, where he lived until his passing. Souza's works of art have sold at starting prices of millions.

His artistic creation, Birth, was sold at US$2.5 million (Rs 11.3 Crore), making it India's most costly painting around then. The tasteful estimation of this craftsman can't be limited to money, however by the effect that it had on the view of the workmanship. In the end, Francis Newton Souza was and is an invaluable jewel in the treasure of Indian arts.