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Lot 67

 

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By 1957, the year in which he painted the present lot, Souza had risen to fame in London's artistic and literary circles. His first one man exhibition at Victor Musgrave's Gallery One in 1955 was critically acclaimed, as were those that followed it, one of which included this painting. Speaking about his accomplishments at the time Geeta Kapur noted, "Souza was the first Indian artist to become something of a sensation in the West. For that... By 1957, the year in which he painted the present lot, Souza had risen to fame in London's artistic and literary circles. His first one man exhibition at Victor Musgrave's Gallery One in 1955 was critically acclaimed, as were those that followed it, one of which included this painting. Speaking about his accomplishments at the time Geeta Kapur noted, "Souza was the first Indian artist to become something of a sensation in the West. For that matter even among his Western contemporaries he stood pretty high on the ladder of success, and it goes without saying that he deserved it. Place him for a moment besides two figurative Expressionists like Graham Sutherland in England and Bernard Buffet in France, the two painters with whom he invites obvious comparison and one will realise how much more sharply Souza impresses himself on one, using the term literally to mean a mark left on the recipient by the force of pressure" ("Devil in the Flesh", Contemporary Indian Artists, Vikas Publishing House Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi, 1978, p. 12).

This painting and another of Souza's 1957 portraits titled Negro in Mourning, currently in the collection of the Birmingham Museum, were painted during London's race riots, which affected the artist deeply. Speaking about the time, he noted, "In the 1950s race riots suddenly flared up at Notting Hill Gate in London. I lived close by...Although I wasn't involved in any unpleasantness over skin colour and have never been, prejudice is a fact of life. Being born in India I know better: the caste system, called varna in vernacular, means 'colour' - the 'colour bar', in fact; and is practised in India on a vast scale, worse than apartheid was in South Africa…But the black man, the negro, has had the worst of it. In fact, it was in London that I became aware of this black-white discrimination" ("Negro in Mourning", Black People in British Art: 18th-20th century collections in Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, Birmingham City Council, not paginated).

Devoid of Souza's characteristic disfigurement, this portrait's almost primitive simplicity, powerful frontality and unmoving gaze remind viewers of his debt to ancient Indian sculpture, Byzantine iconography, traditional African art, and the work of Spanish Romanesque painters. Wearing an elaborate neck piece and decorative hairpins, Souza's subject is neither voluptuous nor grotesque. Her only remarkable feature - a stately elongated neck - serves to emphasise her rich braids and her dignified comportment. Commanding respect, her presence here overshadows the prejudice and discrimination she faces because of the tone of her skin.

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