Important Notice

The present lot, acquired directly from the artist in New York in 2000, dates back to his time in London in 1953. Souza arrived in New York in 1967, but found no appreciation for his art. It was an atmosphere similar to his early years in London-when the painting was made-living hand to mouth in order to survive and paint.

In the climate of 1950s London, artists like Francis Bacon used their art to reflect the brutality evident in a... The present lot, acquired directly from the artist in New York in 2000, dates back to his time in London in 1953. Souza arrived in New York in 1967, but found no appreciation for his art. It was an atmosphere similar to his early years in London-when the painting was made-living hand to mouth in order to survive and paint.

In the climate of 1950s London, artists like Francis Bacon used their art to reflect the brutality evident in a society still reverberating from the war. Souza, whom critics have often likened to Bacon, found a similar, and at the same time, new direction in this disillusioned setting-one that explored the anguish of the human condition. As in the present lot, Souza's subjects from this time were the savage heads of the everyman, with soulless eyes displaced to the forehead, a set of gnashing teeth bared, and the face "a ridged, rocky terrain bounded by lines and petrified by its own violence." (Yashodhara Dalmia, "A Passion for the Human Figure", The Making of Modern Indian Art: The Progressives, Oxford University Press, 2001, p.83)

In 1955, Souza created a series of ink drawings, Six Gentlemen of our Times, published in his autobiography, Words and Lines. With similarly distorted visages, they were a harsh commentary on the decadent, ruthless characteristics of the rich, upper class. "It was a damning denouement of an affluent society that had a cankerous serpent at its core. For Souza's piercing vision had seen the embittered, hardened man who had emerged from this society and had represented him bared of all disguises. These were works without redemption." (Yashodhara Dalmia, Souza in London, Queen's Gallery, British Council, New Delhi, Feb. 2004, p. 10)

According to critics, Souza's demonic faces were undoubtedly, representations of the self.
Indeed, a self portrait of the artist from this time illustrates a brutally honest rendering of his own head. An accompanying poem, which is totally devoid of sentimentality, expresses his cynical observations on humanity:

"Eyes in the brow the better to see
with the brain

Stars in the face are the scars of
Smallpox

Arrows in the neck life flies mean
Affliction

The grinding of the teeth is not in
the Day of Resurrection

But today
The jacket, tie and stiff collar
are signs of respectability."

Souza employed a unique technique of cross-hatched lines along two parallels to create these ravaged heads. His skill as a draughtsman is evident in this "nucleus" of complex stabs and slashes which create a jagged web of complex patterns which complement the disturbing Jekyll and Hyde like stares.

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