Book relating to an individual, 1962
Published by: Anthony Blond Ltd.
Year published: 1962
Number of pages: 108

Souza, a monograph published by Anthony Blond Ltd., London, 1962, written by Edwin Mullins, a writer, journalist and film-maker. He was formerly art critic of The Sunday Telegraph, and has written widely on the visual arts and on medieval history and architecture.

The book consisted of several texts on Francis Newton Souza written by Mullins. From the book’s Preamble: “An Indian painter, brought up in a strict Roman Catholic under Portuguese colonial rule, later a member of the Communist Party, and now living in London: these are the barest details about one of the most gifted and original of modern artists. Those writers on art who even today look upon all new painting as the result of age-old cultural roots, must be baffled by such a history, for it bears witness to a great number of contradictory influences which make nonsense of conventional ideas of tradition.”

In the Short Biography section, Mullins writes, “… In spite of the confusion of names, Souza is entirely Indian by blood. His ancestors were among the many thousands of Goans who took on Portuguese names when they adopted Christianity four hundred and more years ago. The name Newton came into the family because his father - also Newton - had an English godfather. The name Francis was added a little later by Souza’s mother, in thanksgiving to Goa’s patron saint, St. Francis Xavier, for having rescued her son from an attack of smallpox.”

Later on, the text states, “The period 1949-1955 was a hard time for Souza. For those six years he tried to interest London galleries in his pictures, only to be told that they were not good enough. Once he and a friend carried an enormous picture from North Kensington where he lived to Bond Street  (the Underground would not take it), because a gallery had expressed a slight interest in his work; only to have it rejected, and then carry it all the way back to North Kensington.”

Copiously illustrated with primarily monochrome reproductions of the artist’s work, the monograph also contained a handful of colour reproductions and a selection of portraits of Souza by Oswald Jones, taken in December 1961, in Belsize Square, London.

The book was introduced with a quote by David Sylvester, “Every worthwhile artist is capable of giving offence by being positive enough to demand that the beholder see the world his way, a demand that must provoke either acquiesecnce or rage.”

Contents as follows:

Introduction
Preamble
Biography
Appreciation
Paintings
Collections - the extensive three page list testifies to the extent to which Souza’s work had not only become highly collectable, but the extent to which meticulous records of hs collectors had been maintained.