FRANCIS NEWTON SOUZA (1924-2002)

Matisse said: 'I should like any man who is feeling defeated to gain a sense of calm and repose when he looks at my paintings.' I would like my paintings to disturb the calm, the smug - in fact they do and that is why I am described by a German critic as a painter who makes the Expressionists look friendly!
(F. N. Souza, extract from a letter to Liselotte Souza, 1974, unpaginated; courtesy the F. N. Souza Family Archive)

Powerful and acerbic, this important work reflects Souza's unique inventiveness: painting without paint and commenting on contemporary society, the artist's dynamism is captured in expressive motion.