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Lot 4

 

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Painted in 1951 in London, the present lot continues the artist’s exploration of figuration, specifically his depiction of heads, that began in the 1940s and would continue for the next few decades, undergoing transformations in style and form. This portrait of a woman in profile juxtaposes earth tones with a brighter shade of yellow outlining her facial features, and the eponymous nose ring and a thick, dark braid are identifiable against... Painted in 1951 in London, the present lot continues the artist’s exploration of figuration, specifically his depiction of heads, that began in the 1940s and would continue for the next few decades, undergoing transformations in style and form. This portrait of a woman in profile juxtaposes earth tones with a brighter shade of yellow outlining her facial features, and the eponymous nose ring and a thick, dark braid are identifiable against the distorted forms.

“It is in depicting heads that Souza introduced his most inventive features that bring to the fore his whole painterly arsenal. His use of colour is conventional with thick, ridged strokes of paint squeezed straight from the tube on to the canvas… It is the line that is Souza’s most articulate element and he uses it with great agility to encase the form. It is a sharp, clear, virile boundary that separates negative space from positive space and by its sheer virtuosity delineates the subject.” (Yashodhara Dalmia, “A Passion for the Human Figure,” The Making of Modern Indian Art: The Progressives, New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2001, p. 93) Painted two years after the disbanding of the Progressive Artists’ Group, this work nonetheless retains the Group’s vision of art that “amalgamated internationalism with the experience of being rooted in India.” (Yashodhara Dalmia, Souza in London, New Delhi: British Council, 2004, p. 16)

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