Two of FN Souza’s multi-layered works, which are inspired by Catholic influences, speak volumes about his deeper understanding of the subject and the politics of the church, says Uma Nair
Francis Newton Souza, founding member of The Progressives, would have turned 96 last month. As the world fights the COVID-19 pandemic, it is good to look at two of his works that define his brilliance in conception and composition — Family and Golgotha at Goa. Multi-layered, filled with dynamism, and brutally humanistic, Souza never stopped experimenting throughout his six-decade career, perpetually seeking new modes and languages of painterly expression.
Love for church hymns
In Delhi of 1998, he walked into the Church of Redemption in Viceroy’s estate to attend the Christmas concert of the city’s oldest choir, the Delhi Christian Chorus. Dressed in a black suit and scarlet tie, he sat on the first chair in the front row, agog, his mind in tune. After listening to the solo, O little Town of Bethlehem, he picked out his handkerchief and wiped a tear. At dinner, after the concert, he told this critic.
“I didn’t care for the dogmas of the church but I admired the grand architecture and the ritual splendour of the Holy Eucharist. As a young boy, I would watch the niches and grand vestments of the priests. As the hymns would waft across, my eyes would be transfixed on the wooden saints painted with gold and bright colours, I remember the smell of incense and the enormous crucifix became a permanent imprint. I would kneel and pray for hours. When the Sacristan came around with the collection plate, I would drop on it with great satisfaction, the large copper coin was given to me by my grandmother. I felt I had paid an installment for the salvation of my soul. My reason for loving hymns is different from yours. You believe in God, I laugh at the Gods! I consider nature the higher God!”
Today, it is his paintings of churches priests and the eucharist table that sell in millions at auctions. From the symbolism of the priests, he created a riveting series. In a world torn by the Coronavirus, nature seems to swing Souza’s way!
Childhood memories
Souza always spoke about his upbringing as a strict Catholic. The impact that this had upon the artist and the subject matter of his paintings is well known. His criticism of the church, clergy and the corruption of the priests, whom he created as many ‘Heads’ is not just symbolic but prophetic and mesmerising. His many paintings and drawings with religious Catholic content speak volumes about his deeper understanding of subject and politics of the church. We can sense his contemptuous and anti-clerical stances regarding the Catholic church and this reflected an unmistakable presence of religion in his life and his art.
Family (1946)
It was during this period in 1946 that the revolutionary Souza painted the magnificent work, Family. This work done in impasto is one of his most seminal works. Painted in 1946, the year before India became independent, it represents a significant point of inflection in the definition and evolution of modern Indian art.
We could think of the idiom of social realism very much like the Mexican Revolutionaries as well as German Expressionist artists.
In the painting, a poor, humble family of four sits in a tiny room. This single room is evocative in the many things it tells us. Treatment of composition and colour makes it a painting of stunning splendour both in tonality and contours of the subject. The rustic image at once has Catholic symbolism in the rosary worn by the woman and the Madonna on the wall.
In communion with Goa
Souza had a nostalgic connection with Goa. He thought of its many characteristics woven through his own memories. It seemed like a communion with his past. This is explained best by MA Couto.
“The first 12 years of an artist’s life are perhaps the seedbed of his creative life. In case of Souza, this influence may be summarised as living rural Catholic life as experienced in daily companionship with his grandmother. Her influence along with the vitality of folklore gave him a sense of the animistic and spirit ridden atmosphere of fields and home. The ritual symbols of cross, monstrance, ciborium, on a platform that resembles the Judaic Ark of The Covenant, but with surfaces which are distinctly Goan, are frequently found in Souza’s paintings and represent the passion and dread of a heretic creed seeking legitimacy and acceptance.”
Golgotha in Goa
In that context, Golgotha in Goa, presented in the Sotheby’s Sale, was a powerful testimony to his brilliance. In this early and important work, Souza adopted the formal composition from the altar at Golgotha, Jerusalem — the place where Jesus was crucified. When one views the image of the altar at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre that was built at Golgotha, it is apparent that Souza has taken this imagery as inspiration for this painting.
Three large sconces envelop the altar at Golgotha and gold squares, containing icons and paintings, make up the background — all perfectly mirrored in this painting, titled Golgotha in Goa. This designation suggests to the viewer that this painted scene is actually in Goa but is a reflection of Golgotha nonetheless. Goa was at the time a Portuguese colony, where Catholicism was the main religion so it is very likely that elements from the altar at Golgotha were also incorporated in churches of Goa.
This vivid arrangement forms part of Souza’s iconic and extensive series of paintings, where he explored the theme of religious suffering that was so central in his childhood. His early works in particular were characterised by the deliberate use of powerful impasto.
Bold expressionist brushstrokes done in the impasto style add texture and create islands of abstraction. Bright blocks of colour pop out from these dark and deep recesses, producing a mosaic-like effect.
Souza evokes the imagery and textural tones of stained glass windows done in the Portuguese style of traditional stained glass windows of old churches in Goa. In life and thereafter, he belongs to his beautiful hometown, Goa.