Important Notice

Souza revisited the theme of lovers many times during his life. His depictions often lack the typical representations of love, tenderness or affection. His lovers seem, rather, to be in competition with each other to assert their individual power. Often, Souza would paint a nude woman in an embrace with a fully-clothed man, either wearing a suit or a cassock-like priestly garment. Elsewhere, this could be said to assert male dominance over... Souza revisited the theme of lovers many times during his life. His depictions often lack the typical representations of love, tenderness or affection. His lovers seem, rather, to be in competition with each other to assert their individual power. Often, Souza would paint a nude woman in an embrace with a fully-clothed man, either wearing a suit or a cassock-like priestly garment. Elsewhere, this could be said to assert male dominance over submissive females. In Souza???s work, however, it may be a means to convey the ecclesiastical or societal stature of the man ??? and all the hypocrisy, corruption and ruthlessness that goes with that ??? in contrast with the soft, sensuous fecundity of the woman.

In the present lot, the nude woman stares powerfully at the viewer, allowing her lover to grope her breasts with his disproportionally large hands. His dress suggests he may be a member of the clergy, representing a twinning of two of the great narratives of Souza???s work ??? religion and sex. As with elsewhere in his oeuvre, Souza uses religious symbolism to reveal the insincerity of the Catholic Church???s attempts to suppress sexuality among its flock. This was a trope that he returned to many times (see F N Souza, Lovers, Oil on Masonite, 1955), and reveals his preoccupation with what he saw as the hypocrisy of the religious institution that had played a significant role in his formative years.

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