Important Notice

"To me, the images in the Head series represent suffering... I have no desire to redeem myself or anybody else because Man is by his very nature unredeemable, yet he hankers so desperately after redemption." - F N SOUZA

According to Geeta Kapur, "The one continuing theme Souza explores... is the theme of hypocrisy and the Church, in so far as it symbolises absolute authority and camouflages with subtle cunning the hypocrisies... "To me, the images in the Head series represent suffering... I have no desire to redeem myself or anybody else because Man is by his very nature unredeemable, yet he hankers so desperately after redemption." - F N SOUZA

According to Geeta Kapur, "The one continuing theme Souza explores... is the theme of hypocrisy and the Church, in so far as it symbolises absolute authority and camouflages with subtle cunning the hypocrisies of the elite... The recurring portraits of priests, prophets, cardinals, and Popes are therefore to be taken literally for what they are but also symbolically as representatives of institutions and authority, only more treacherous in that they claim divine sanction... It is this double connotation of fact and symbol and his interlocked feelings of secret fascination and objective disgust which make Souza's handling of religious figures so unique." (Contemporary Indian Artists, New Delhi: Vikas Publishing House, 1978, p. 20)

The present lot was painted during a pivotal period for F N Souza, whose work had finally gained recognition in London's art circles following the publication of his autobiographical essay "Nirvana of a Maggot" and his subsequent solo show at Victor Musgrave's Gallery One in February 1955. It is painted in the style of his 'Heads' which he began to explore in the previous decade, through which the artist offered a critique of human society and depravations, including the hypocrisy of the clergy and his complex relationship with the Roman Catholic Church (also seen in lot 32). However, in the present lot, Souza paints an almost benevolent, sombre Christ dressed in an ornate red robe, his frontal gaze reminiscent of 'the wooden saints' or Byzantine icons. "There is a religious quality about his work which is medieval in its simplicity and in its unsophisticated sense of wonder. Some of the most moving of Souza's paintings are those which convey a spirit of awe in the presence of a divine power..." (Edwin Mullins, F N Souza, London: Anthony Blond Ltd., 1962, p. 40)

The Christ figure in the present lot stands against a twilit village landscape, quietly conveying the largely concealed sense of religious awe that Souza rarely revealed. "While disregarding the limits of the picture plane roads break off into the endless sky and trees appear always in the foreground as colourful 'blurs' (a device Souza uses to create perspective)." (Anthony Ludwig, Souza, New Delhi: Dhoomimal Gallery) The dark palette and bold lines perhaps foreshadow the next decade of Souza's oeuvre, where tumultuous vistas would reflect the prevalent anxiety and sombre atmosphere of post-war Europe.

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