Francis Newton Souza,India's modern artist best known internationally for his use of bold lines and often explicit works created to expose the society's hypocrisy comes alive in a new retrospective. Beginning April 10,the Lalit Kala Akademi here will mount more than 200 works of the renowned painter sourced from the private collection of Dhoomimal Gallery,one of the oldest in the country. Entitled "Volte Face: Souza's Iconoclastic Vision" curated by art historian Yashodhara Dalmia,the 10-day show would also host film screenings,poetry sessions,talks with friends and collectors such as Ebrahim Alkazi,Krishen Khanna and Anjolie Ela Menon as well as workshops for children. "My family knew Souza from the 1960's when my father had met him in the US. We held a show in Delhi in 1976 which introduced Souza to the Indian market and people started noticing his style," Uday Jain,director of Dhoomimal Gallery said ahead of the show. For decades,Souza who died in Mumbai in 2002 at age 78,was known as one of the first Indian artists to gain prominence in the Western art scene. When Pablo Picasso,considered one of the world's best artist died,Souza had reportedly said,"Now that Picasso is dead,I am the greatest." The Goa -born artist who lived in Mumbai,London and New York founded the Progressive Indian art movement in India and roped in artists like M F Husain and S H Raza. "This is a very large collection. Out of the 400 works owned by the gallery,over 200 works were chosen by me to cover every decade from the 1940s to the late 1960s. I think it is a show which highlights his strong points," says curator Yashodhara Dalmia. The first major retrospective since the artist's death in 2002 displays old paintings,acrylics,ink drawings and experimental chemical alterations. "Only when one sees the totality of his works can one see his vision. His forte though is his heads,with savage eyes and fractured faces. "It struck me how he wanted to portray the underbelly of existence the seamier side of life," says Dalmia who termed the show "Volte Face" to depict the artist's tendency to do a complete turnaround from conventional way of looking at society. Some of Souza's work,owned by the Jain family are not for sale but others like ink sketches and larger oil paintings carry a price tags ranging from a few lakhs to upwards of Rs 1 crore.
