Untitled (Standing Nudes)

Details

FRANCIS NEWTON SOUZA (1924-2002)
Untitled (Standing Nudes)
signed and dated 'Souza 1954' (upper right); signed and dated 'Souza 1953' (upper right) and inscribed 'If you do have a free evening when you're in London next drop in to dinner - my wife makes some nice Goan dishes even in London!'; and inscribed '...1953 Souza' (on the reverse)
ink on paper; ink on paper; graphite on paper mounted on card
10 3/8 x 7 7/8 in. (26.6 x 20.2 cm.); 9 7/8 x 7 7/8 in. (25.2 x 20.2 cm.); 19 x 10¾ in. (48.5 x 27.5 cm.)
Executed in 1954; 1953; circa 1953
Group of three works on paper (3)

Literature

Untitled (Standing Nude Wearing Jewellery), 1953, F. Souza and G. Melly eds., F. N. Souza: Religion and Erotica, London, 2005, p. 43 (illustrated)
Untitled (Standing Nude with Mirror), 1954, ibid., p. 26 (illustrated)

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Lot Essay

"When I dined with Mr. Souza in London in 1956, he advised me to buy a couple of his pictures as an investment and added that he was 'the coming genius'. I was dickering about purchasing a moderately priced canvas but when I returned to the gallery it had already been sold. The present programme [Gallery One] reproduces a number of Mr. Souza's creations, including Girl with hairpin and girdle which depicts a fleshy female with a Renoiresque 'derriere' and a bust that eclipses Jayne Mansfield's."
(C. R. M. 'Gallimaufry', The Illustrated Weekly of India, January 19, 1958, unpaginated)

Two of the present works may have been preliminary studies for Souza's Nude with Hairpin and Girdle, painted in 1957 and later illustrated in E. Mullins, Souza, London, 1962, p. 64

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