Francis Newton Souza

F.N. Souza was born in Goa, India (1924-2002). He was expelled from the Sir J.J School of Art in 1942 for taking part in the ‘Quit India’ freedom movement. Five years later he founded the Progressive Artist’s Movement (along with S.H. Raza, M.F Husain and K.H. Ara, amongst others). In 1949, he moved to London, where he shot to fame with his solo exhibition at Gallery One, and in 1967 he migrated to New York, returning to India shortly before his death. Souza was a prolific painter. His style has been described as deliberately eclectic, essentially Expressionist in character, but also drawing on the post-war Art Brut movement and elements of British Neo-romanticism. His works use references to various sources, such as the folk art of his native Goa, Western Renaissance paintings and European religious subjects.