Untitled

FN Souza

This work of Francis Newton Souza’s from 1963 marks a significant shift in his depiction of the female nude, with an increasingly sexualized portrayal of the form. The woman exudes confidence, her eyes gazing directly at the viewer as she angles her body towards them. The artist sets the scene in an interior space, allowing for the intimate scene to take place within closed doors.

Souza’s “… depiction of blatantly nude women was something of an act of defiance against the forbidden act. But as always, impacted on this was the mature realization of the prudish hypocrisy of society that repressed its own undercurrents of smut and corruption. In many ways his women baring their thighs or sitting nude astride a chair, were in open defiance of the hypocritical mores of society. At all times, even at their demonic best, his women were monumental” (Yashodhara Dalmia, Souza in London, New Delhi, 2004, p. 12).