Francis Newton Souza (India, 1924-2002)


Nude Queen Signed 'Souza' and dated '62 upper leftOil on canvas145 x 120cm (57 1/16 x 47 1/4in).
|Provenance:Private Collection, Dubai;Aicon Gallery, New York;Schuster Gallery, Detroit.'The advantage of a figurative painter has over the abstract is sheer impact : the brute force of an expressionist painting of a large, distorted, suggestive naked lady can overwhelm the bravest abstract painting – no doubt about it – because humans will be humans and sadism in sport, in the movies, in art, in theatre is where the meat is and the pleasure!'In this masterful rendition, Souza's depicts an imposing regal figure. She is naked however she does not encompass the vulnerability or subordination of the conventional 'nude'. This nude is not the subject of the male gaze but instead subverts it – challenging the viewer. She is the epitome of the strong matriarchal figure echoing the strength and importance of other historic women such as the Venus of Willendorf. The totemic and goddess-like 'Nude Queen' is gargantuan, voluptuous and empowered by her grotesqueness. As Yashodhara Dalmia notes 'Nude Queen' is majestic despite Souza's own attempts to dismantle her.Souza never shied away from the uncomfortable and shocking but this work is not meant to be harrowing but powerful. The crown adorning her beaded hair is only partially depicted as it is her presence that denotes the regal quality. The figure is stern faced with a long nasal bridge and feather style contours typical of Souza's portraits. The image emphasise the body parts associated with fertility, clad only in heavy torq bracelets. The figure is aggressively sexual, as opposed to merely sexualised by the viewer. Domineering, Souza instils huge importance in this figure with his trademark bold jagged black lines and almost frenzied outlines. The overlayed hands indicating a presence from behind holding on to the torso, clasped close but out of view – perhaps this is Souza himself, presenting the figure, overshadowed by her? Could this worshipful matriarchal figure be reminiscent of Souza's own mother? Souza recalls as a child watching his mother through a peep-hole 'I used to watch her bathe herself through a hole I had bored in the door. I was afraid if she thrust something in, I might get a bleeding eye-ball. I drew her on the walls and prudes thought I was rude. I can't see why, because as far as I can recollect, I had even painted murals on the walls of her womb.' (Y. Dalmia, The Making of Modern Art: The Progressives, Oxford, 2001, p. 91)