Getting under the skin of master painter F N Souza

Eccentricity to an artist is what perhaps, air is to life. Owing to his uncanny art and even more contentious life, Francis Newton Souza who is often named in the same league as Picasso, Dali and Frida Kahlo, is no exception.
A range of over 60 artworks devoted to F N Souza, one of the pioneers of the Bombay Progressive Artists' Group with members M F Husain, S H Raza and others, is currently underway at the Dhoomimal Art Gallery here.
Titled "Souza - City of Women", the show containing rare archival material has been co-curated by Vinod Bhardwaj and Brij Sharma.

Bhardwaj, draws an appropriate comparison between Souza and Italian filmmaker Federico Fellini.
The latter is known to have confessed his attraction for "giant and powerful women," much like the ones portrayed in Souza's paintings.
"With the recent obsession of size zero, thanks to Bollywood, Souza's paintings seem to be the reinvention of the plus size women," says Bhardwaj whose book "Seppuku - The Curious Works of the Art Mafia" on the realities of the art world was released recently.

The diversity of Souza works showcases the artist's talent. From landscapes to nudes, still life to strong heads, the artist has done it all.

"Souza was a known womaniser," says Bhardwaj.
Besides the "real" women that he had known at some point of his life, Souza had in one of his interviews with the 'Debonair' magazine, had hinted at ancient Indian art being an inspiration for his art.
"I do a lot of erotic drawings, not because it gives me any titillation - I'd rather have the real thing - but because art produces art, and I'm looking at Khajuraho," he had said.