Francis Newton Souza Biography 
Francis Newton Souza, commonly referred to as F. N. Souza was the first post-independence Indian artist to achieve high recognition in the West. His expressive style defined both low-life and high energy. He was a founding member of the Progressive Artists' Group at Mumbai.
He was born in Saligao, Goa on April 12. He lost his father when he was three months old. He was named Francis by his mother when he got cured after an attack of small-pox. His mother was a seamstress and one of Francis’ best paintings is that of a sewing machine. He studied at St. Xavier's College in Mumbai, but was expelled for drawing graffiti in the loo. But he gave explanation that he did so, as the drawings were too poor that nobody will buy it. He joined India's premier art school, Sir J. J. School of Art. But he was suspended as a result of his participation in Quit India Movement.
It was after this incident, he founded Bombay Progressive Artists' Group to encourage Indian artists to participate in international events. Yet he left India to England in 1949 and with early 1950’s, his works gained popularity in London. His works were displayed at Gallery One, North London. The Institute of Contemporary Arts included work of his in a 1954 exhibition. His autobiographical work ‘Nirvana of a Maggot’ was published in Encounter, a journal. Words and Lines published in 1959 was his second work.
As a part of his successful artistic career, he also participated in several shows. He was an artist as ‘Expressionist in character’, according to John Berger. After 1967 he settled in New York, but returned to India shortly before his death on March 28, 2002. In 2008, his painting Birth (1955) set a world auction record for the most expensive Indian painting sold till then.
Published: N/A
Updated: January 08, 2014
