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38
39
So, at twenty-six, on the
22
nd
July
1949
, Souza boarded the SS Canton for
London, arriving a few weeks later. (His wife Maria followed him in the spring
of the following year on the
8
th
May
1950
).
“
I disembarked at Tillbury on a hot August day in
1949
with £
15
in the pocket of my
only suit. In London I took up lodgings on my own. I bought paint and brushes with
£
10
and spent the rest on food and a week’s rent. I worked hard on my painting and
hoped for the best. I felt awfully alone in the largest populated city in the world. I
walked aimlessly and bewildered through the bewildering traffic
”
He sets himself up at
38
Landsdowne Crescent, in the heart of Notting Hill,
an area ravaged by the blitz and full of houses divided into cheap lodgings. Souza
writes on the
17
th
August
1949
to the P.A.G back in Bombay of his experience in
London so far:
“
For the ten days that I have been here….I have learnt that life in London is a
luxurious commodity to sustain, and elements like water need pennies to be dropped
in, and necessities like lavatories need pennies to be dropped in. I was very fortunate
to have my good friend Alkazi with whom I could share my lodgings otherwise
I would get hopelessly into financial difficulties. So eagerness is a liability.
I have learnt my bitter lessons. He, who never hopes, can never despair.
”
He continues:
“
I have started painting. Plywood is impossible to get, all wood is exported. I have
bought two sheets of compressed cardboard for which I paid
8
Shillings! More than
I paid for the large plywood on which I had painted my self-portrait in Bombay.
”
38
Not perturbed by his impoverishment, Souza immersed himself in the
museums and art galleries of London, soaking up the works of art he had
only previously been able to see in books. He looked at the Old Masters like
Rembrandt, Caravaggio and Titian “
I have seen
6
Rembrandts, which gave me
an immense joy and understanding, which I didn’t get from examining
600
of his
reproductions in books…….The experience is unexplainable.
”
39
As well as the
Contemporary European Artists:
“
The one man who has upset my ambition of being famous is Picasso! We had seen
nothing of Picasso in Bombay. The quantity of work he has done he has done is
in capitals
AMAZING
! The quality is
ASTONISHING
! There is no style he has
not done, he has imitated you, me, Husain, Ara, Gade and in his sculpture Bakre
without we knowing it, or he knowing us!... I envy him. I love him. I admire him.
I am jealous of him, which sincere painter wouldn’t be… be proud as well as envious
of him?....Modigliani has a peculiar surface texture on his canvasses. I strove to
discover it, and at last I learnt that Mod, as soon as he finished would spread a
newspaper on the wet canvas and briskly pass his hands over it. So simple!
”
40
In
1949
Souza was a penniless artist, in a new country, on the brink of a new
decade. However, despite the hardship he faced, he held strong in his passion and
drive, as Goetz commented, “
your revolutionary spirit will bring you many troubles
but go on fighting. The future is always with those who struggle for self-expression and
for ideals
”
41
. Souza fought, and would carry on fighting, because he believed in
his art.
“
To comprehend and appreciate (modern paintings) one must know one’s way in
the world history of art, from Praxitiles to Picasso, from the Han to the Manchu
dynasty, and from Mohenjo-daro to Francis Newton’. Isn’t this sheer audacity?
You gasp. I don’t agree. If Newton considers he is fit to be numbered among the
great artists, his future work will back up his claim
”
42
Articles on Souza in the Sunday Standard,
10
July
1949
Image © Christies (Catalogue from March
2014
)
Newton, Gaitonde, Petras and Raza at the Bombay Art Society,
1949
Image © The Estate of Francis Newton Souza
Francis Newton Souza, aged
26
, November
1949
, London
Image © The Estate of Francis Newton Souza