Brushstrokes from two emigres: Works by Souza, Chandra on show at Taj Mahal Palace
DAG honors FN Souza's centenary with an exhibition featuring 45 works alongside Avinash Chandra, opening November 12 at Taj Mahal Palace
MUMBAI: On the birth centenary of the enfant terrible of Indian modern art, DAG will pay tribute to F N Souza, exhibiting 45 of his works from their collection. The exhibition, to be held at their galleries in the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel from November 12, will have a twist. Souza’s paintings will be accompanied by the works of his contemporary, Avinash Chandra. The exhibition will be titled ‘Contours of Identity: F N Souza & Avinash Chandra’.
“Both Souza and Chandra left India for London quite early on in their lives, too restricted as they were by the conservatism in art here, only to have to contend with their ‘Indianness’ over there,” said Giles Tillotson, curator of the exhibition.
Souza was born in Goa but moved to Bombay when he was just five. W G Archer, who was pivotal to the success of both Souza and Chandra as a promoter of modern Indian art in London, was quoted by Tillotson as saying, “Five events—his birth in Goa, a part of western India that was still under Portuguese rule; his education as a Roman Catholic; the almost immediate death of his father; his mother’s preference for his sister; and a virulent attack of smallpox—gave him a sense of life as cruel, violent and unjust.”
Angry and at odds with authority figures, a temperament that would last a lifetime, Souza was expelled from school and then the JJ School of Art. His dissatisfaction with the art scene in India prompted him to become a co-founder of the Bombay Progressive Artists’ Group in 1947. Eventually, Souza migrated to London in 1949.
Parallelly, Chandra found himself dissatisfied with his role as a teacher at the Delhi Polytechnic, and left for London in 1956. It was in London where both Souza and Chandra established their respective styles, going on to achieve recognition. Souza painted to shock, said Tillotson. While Souza painted in the vein of a brash Picasso, Chandra took on more abstract forms and was compared to “Paul Klee, as Indianized by Rabindranath Tagore”.
Both feature nudes, which Tillotson explains, was a way of exploring their sexuality. “The women he (Souza) painted seem to embrace their womanhood, confidently owning the space they dwell in and unabashedly gaze back, unsettling the viewer. It is within this space that Souza, with his mastery of lines, vivid brushstrokes and a steered palette, triumphantly captured the voyeuristic intent and gaze while also subverting it,” Tillotson quotes, from an essay he’s written on the artists.
“The works we chose were the strongest examples of their work to make it an impactful show,” said Tillotson. “A few are from the late ’50s, but they are largely from the ’60s onwards.”
The exhibition will be accompanied by the release of a book, also titled ‘Contours of Identity: F N Souza & Avinash Chandra’. It includes an essay by Tillotson; an essay by art historian Yashodhara Dalmia on Souza’s view of women; an essay by Gregory Salter, a professor on the history of art, on Chandra’s progression as an artist; and a tribute by Chandra’s wife, Valerie Murray-Chandra.
Chandra died young, at 60, in 1991, after his body rejected a kidney transplant. Souza, on the other hand, lived longer, moving to New York, before arriving at his final resting place in Bombay, in 2002, when he was buried in the Sewri Christian cemetery.
The exhibition ‘Contours of Identity: F N Souza & Avinash Chandra’ will open on November 12 at the DAG galleries in the Taj Mahal Palace in Colaba. It will remain open to the public till January 3, 2025.