Important Notice

F N Souza was one of the first Indian artists to achieve high distinction in the Western art space. Painted in 1964, the present lot belongs to a highly lucrative period that is generally considered the apex of his career. "For almost ten years, from 1956 to 1966, he dominated the British art scene, showing his work and selling regularly. He was written about extensively and received praise from critics such as John Berger, Edwin Mullins and... F N Souza was one of the first Indian artists to achieve high distinction in the Western art space. Painted in 1964, the present lot belongs to a highly lucrative period that is generally considered the apex of his career. "For almost ten years, from 1956 to 1966, he dominated the British art scene, showing his work and selling regularly. He was written about extensively and received praise from critics such as John Berger, Edwin Mullins and David Sylvester, to name a few." (Rasheed Araeen ed., The Other Story: AfroAsian Artists in Post-War Britain, London: South Bank Centre, 1989, p. 23)

Homer is possibly a reference to the Greek poet, who was blind but possessed a powerful awareness of humanity and human actions that led him to compose two of the greatest epics in Western mythology, The Iliad and The Odyssey. It is likely that Souza, who intended his art as commentary on the flawed nature of human beings, would have found kinship in Homer. By depicting him with pock marks like his own, scars from the pustules of smallpox which had ravaged his face, he perhaps compares himself with the legendary bard. Souza's art, as well as his writing, both reveal a torturous process of creation and the need to leave a lasting impact on the viewer or reader-a reference to Homer and his enduring legacy.

The present lot addresses Souza's continued preoccupation with depicting distorted human forms that began in the late 1940s. His evolving style is seen in the use of circular forms that replaced the razor-edged cross-hatchings from earlier works. This progression demonstrates his versatility as a draughtsman, prompting critic Yashodhara Dalmia to write: "It is in depicting heads that Souza introduced his most inventive features that bring to the fore his whole painterly arsenal... 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 object." (Yashodhara Dalmia, "A Passion for the Human Figure," The Making of Modern Indian Art: The Progressives, New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2001, p. 93)

By the time he painted the present lot, Souza's work had appeared in many prestigious galleries in the UK, including the Tate, the Royal Academy of Arts, the Whitechapel Art Gallery, Bradford Museum, and Castle Museum, Norwich, as well as across Europe. Art historian Eddie Chambers writes, "If ever a mid-twentieth century immigrant artist symbolised an impulse towards the universal languages of art that were simultaneously grounded in individual particularities of identity, it was Souza." (Eddie Chambers, Black Artists in British Art: A History Since the 1950s, London: I B Tauris & Co Ltd, 2014, online)

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