Important Notice

Painted in 1965, the present lot addresses Souza's continued preoccupation with depicting human forms that began in the late 1940s. By this time, Souza's portraits were undergoing a transformation - from his early work characterised by bold lines and his trademark cross-hatching, to the use of loops, whorls and squiggles that served to distort the features into alien-like visages.

The present lot stands midway between these two... Painted in 1965, the present lot addresses Souza's continued preoccupation with depicting human forms that began in the late 1940s. By this time, Souza's portraits were undergoing a transformation - from his early work characterised by bold lines and his trademark cross-hatching, to the use of loops, whorls and squiggles that served to distort the features into alien-like visages.

The present lot stands midway between these two styles, as can be seen in the softening of the line and experiments with spatters of paint to denote mouth and eyes, instead of the gnashing teeth and razor-sharp eyes that Souza previously preferred. "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) Soon after, Souza began his textured 'Black on Black' series. It is likely that the monochromatic colour palette in the present lot is an early glimpse into that next phase.

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