Francis Newton Souza
Ask me Why?, 1966
Oil on canvas
76 x 51 cm
29 7/8 x 20 1/8 in
29 7/8 x 20 1/8 in
Signed and dated 'Souza 66' upper left and further titled and inscribed '84 / Ask me why?' on the reverse, also with Grosvenor Gallery label on the stretcher
Further images
“He is an individualist who fits into no category, western or oriental, and imposes himself by his considerable talent.” Cyril Barrett This painting was exhibited in Souza’s exhibition Black Art...
“He is an individualist who fits into no category, western or oriental, and imposes himself by his considerable talent.”
Cyril Barrett
This painting was exhibited in Souza’s exhibition Black Art and Other Paintings, held at Grosvenor Gallery in summer of 1966. This was a show consisting mainly of his black-on-black works, which at the time received mixed reviews. It was purchased from the show in May 1966 and remained in a private British Collection for over fifty years.
Here the central abstracted figure sits within banded borders, set against a dark background, the title deliberately antagonistic. The vivid colours and thick lines marking the composition are reminiscent of a stained-glass window. In his review of the show, critic and historian Cyril Barrett likened Souza’s colourful paintings as ‘a kind of passing tribute to Pop art, he draws inspiration from magazine photos. When he has worked them up into a composition they have lost all reference to their source; they are no longer Pop but transformed by Souza’s astringent style.’
Cyril Barrett
This painting was exhibited in Souza’s exhibition Black Art and Other Paintings, held at Grosvenor Gallery in summer of 1966. This was a show consisting mainly of his black-on-black works, which at the time received mixed reviews. It was purchased from the show in May 1966 and remained in a private British Collection for over fifty years.
Here the central abstracted figure sits within banded borders, set against a dark background, the title deliberately antagonistic. The vivid colours and thick lines marking the composition are reminiscent of a stained-glass window. In his review of the show, critic and historian Cyril Barrett likened Souza’s colourful paintings as ‘a kind of passing tribute to Pop art, he draws inspiration from magazine photos. When he has worked them up into a composition they have lost all reference to their source; they are no longer Pop but transformed by Souza’s astringent style.’
Provenance
The Artist;
Grosvenor Gallery, London;
Mrs E. Graham, London, purchased during the exhibition Black Art and Other Paintings, on 26 May 1966;
Thence by descent;
Sotheby's, Modern and Contemporary South Asian Art, London, 26 October 2021;
Grosvenor Gallery, LondonExhibitions
Grosvenor Gallery, London, Black Art and Other Paintings, 1966, No. 36South Asian Modern Art 2024, 13 June – 5 July 2024, no. 31, illustrated in exhibition catalogue pg. 83