Career
After this he founded the Bombay Progressive Artists' Group to encourage Indian artists to participate in the international avant-garde. However, in 1949, after India became independent, he left the country for London. In early 1950s he started getting recognition for his works at Gallery One, North London. The Institute of Contemporary Arts included work of his in a 1954 exhibition, and other shows followed. His literary talents also helped his career after the publication of the autobiographical work Nirvana of a Maggot in Encounter, a journal then edited by Stephen Spender. His book Words and Lines published 1959 cemented his literary reputation.
Souza's career developed steadily, and he participated in several shows, receiving positive reviews from John Berger. His style was, as Berger pointed out, deliberately eclectic: essentially Expressionist in character, but also drawing on the post-war Art Brut movement and elements of British Neo-romanticism. His work was often highly erotic. According to art historian Yashodhara Dalmia,
At the heart of Souza's creativity was the belief that society's destructive aspects shouldn't be suppressed, they should be aired and confronted. Be it the hypocrisy of the church, the corruption of the upper classes or the repression of sexuality in a country that has a Khajuraho, he was uncovering the underbelly of existence.
After 1967 he settled in New York, but returned to India shortly before his death, Souza was buried in Sewri cemetery in Mumbai, in a quiet funeral on March 30, 2002.
Read more about this topic: Francis Newton Souza
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