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129.5 by 83.8 cm. (51 by 33 in.)

Signed and dated 'Souza 62' centre left

Oil on canvas

NOTE

The full frontal stance with her raised arms stretched over her shoulders is reminiscent of the central figure from Picasso's Les Demoiselles d'Avignon (1907). Both Picasso's central figure and the current lot possess a similar fixed confident gaze emphasised by the heavy outline of the eyes that was influenced by the two artists interest in early Iberian sculpture.

Like the nudes of Manet, Picasso and Rouault, Souza's nudes go beyond the boundaries of convention. His female figures appear naked rather than nude, their nakedness a mark of material reality. Her confident gaze unnerves the viewer, both acknowledging her blatant sexuality and vulnerability. Souza's nudes are often portrayed alongside a leering fully clothed male that could be said to convey Souza's own sexual anxieties and his relationship with the church. 'As a Roman Catholic youth, born in Goa, I was familiar with the priests bellowing sermons from pulpits against 'sex' and 'immodesty' particularly addressed to women, making them stricken with guilt. The Catholic men stood cocky in their suits and ties agreeing with the priests, lusting for naked women inwardly. Hypocrites!' (Dalmia 2001, p.92.)

Souza recalls as a child watching his mother through a peep-hole 'I used to watch her bathe herself through a hole I had bored in the door. I was afraid if she thrust something in, I might get a bleeding eye-ball. I drew her on the walls and prudes thought I was rude. I can't see why, because as far as I can recollect, I had even painted murals on the walls of her womb.' (Dalmia p.91.)