| Medium | : | Graphite |
|---|---|---|
| Surface | : | Paper |
| Height | : | 8 inch / 20.3 cm |
| Width | : | 13 inch / 33 cm |
| Style | : | Figurative Drawings, Figurative Paintings |
| Dimension | : | W: 33 cm × H: 20.3 cm |
| Year | : | 1968 |
A delicate 1968 graphite drawing by F.N. Souza, composed of flowing human and organic forms that seem to merge into a dreamlike landscape. With elegant lines and generous open space, the work captures Souza’s spontaneous approach to drawing while leaving room for the viewer’s own interpretation.
F.N. Souza | Untitled | Graphite on Paper | 13 x 8 inches | 1968
This graphite drawing by F.N. Souza, dated 1968, is a beautifully restrained study that reveals the artist’s ability to create expressive forms with just a few confident lines. The composition brings together elongated, organic figures and plant-like shapes, creating a dreamlike landscape that sits somewhere between the human form and abstraction.
The central figure appears to recline across the composition, while the surrounding forms—resembling trees, foliage and flowing branches—create a sense of movement and rhythm. Souza’s lines are delicate yet assured, with certain contours repeated and extended to give the drawing a continuous, almost lyrical flow. The simplicity of the graphite allows the character of the line itself to become the focus.
There is an appealing sense of spontaneity and imagination in the work. Instead of filling the paper with detail, Souza leaves generous areas open, allowing the forms to breathe and giving the viewer space to interpret the scene. The handwritten date, signature and visible stamp further enhance its character as a period work on paper.
It is a quiet but distinctive example of Souza’s graphic language, where figuration, abstraction and expressive line come together naturally.
Francis Newton Souza, born on 12 April 1924, was expelled from school, then from his college — Sir J. J. School of Art, Bombay — and later, as he insisted on saying, from his own country.
Born in Goa, Souza’s Catholic mother brought him up to be a priest, but he showed early signs of rebellion that would become an integral part of his life. While studying in Bombay, he joined the Communist Party but soon left it. He even abandoned the Progressive Artists’ Group, of which he was the founder member and spokesperson, to pursue a career in Europe. He would shift continents — living and tasting success in London in the 1950s and ’60s — before settling in New York.
Souza found his own blunt, extreme style by combining the expressionism of Rouault and Soutine with the spirit of cubism and the sculptures of classical Indian tradition. He combined fierce lines with cruel humour. Nudes, landscapes, and portraits — he painted in every style and in every medium, even inventing ‘chemical alterations’, a method of drawing with the use of chemical solvent on a printed page without destroying the glossy surface. This helped him to experiment with the layering of multiple imagery.
Widely exhibited and feted around the world, Souza’s pugnacious nature and work failed to win him recognition in the country of his birth, where he was noted but never rewarded. In the later years, he started spending more time visiting India, and passed away in Mumbai on 28 March 2002.
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