Important Notice

Francis Newton Souza’s oeuvre was often interpreted as a caustic comment on the hypocrisy of the Roman Catholic Church and the crème de la crème of society. His complex relationship with Roman Catholicism found a profound manifestation in his work. “The Roman Catholic Church in Goa … gave him his first ideas of images and image-making. God seemed a fearful person, and God’s servants went around in dread and awe of him” (Edwin Mullins, F. N.... Francis Newton Souza’s oeuvre was often interpreted as a caustic comment on the hypocrisy of the Roman Catholic Church and the crème de la crème of society. His complex relationship with Roman Catholicism found a profound manifestation in his work. “The Roman Catholic Church in Goa … gave him his first ideas of images and image-making. God seemed a fearful person, and God’s servants went around in dread and awe of him” (Edwin Mullins, F. N. Souza: An Introduction, Anthony and Blond Ltd., London, 1959, p.14). Souza had suffered personal losses at a tender age—his father and sister had died when he was very young— which intensified his feelings and views on religion. Shortly afterwards, he suffered a savage attack of small-pox. This incident led his mother to enroll him in a Jesuit school from where he was subsequently expelled, entrenching that tumultuous relationship he shared with religion. Souza was highly cynical of the preachings of the church but almost in tandem, he was in awe of its more ceremonial aspects.

While Souza’s visual idiom manifested through highly distorted figures, there were works that stood out for the absence of any distortion. Of these, some were exceptional in their approach to the subject. A few works from the 1950s reflect a more sober approach in treating the subject. One of them made in 1956, a portrait of the renowned 20th century Russian composer and pianist, Igor Stravinsky, is remarkable in its absence of distortions, and had featured in F. N. Souza LiveAuction held on September 11, 2013. Similarly, the current lot, a rare work made in 1954, depicts a priest in his vestments holding a monstrance, standing imposingly by the altar. The altar recurs as a motif in Souza’s oeuvre; two still life works from the ‘50s published in Edwin Mullins’ biography on the artist echo his fascination with priests and sermons. Mullins quotes a passage from Souza’s Words and Lines that make this evident: “The Roman Catholic church had a tremendous influence over me, not its dogmas but its grand architecture and the splendour of its services. The priest dressed in richly embroidered vestments, each of his garments from the biretta to the chasuble symbolising the accoutrements of Christ’s passion.” (Ibid.,p. 42) Here, the priest’s eyes are unusually high, almost pushed out of focus. The thick lines and pock-marks that are a characteristic of Souza’s figurative drawings are absent. The beard seems to diverge from the centre of his face, appearing voluminous. This rendering suggests a low-angle view, as if seen through the eyes of a child. The priest’s body and the altar, however, are a frontal view. This distortion, along with the monstrance held in his hand, hints at the overbearing presence of the church throughout his life.

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