Nude Metamorphosed Into Insect - 1957

The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka is considered as the seminal work of short fiction that generations of artists have derived inspiration from. Written in 1915, the story is about a travelling salesman waking to find himself transformed into a monstrous insect. In 1955, Francis Newton Souza wrote the Nirvana of a Maggot describing his origin as the 'maggot on a dung heap' metamorphosing into the man he became. Did he identify himself as a Kafkaesque character, living ordinary and extraordinary changes in his tumultuous life as an artist?

In this painting, Nude Metamorphosed Into Insect, Souza draws strong references to the works of Pablo Picasso where the human forms have been extended, heightened, and abstracted. Souza was drawn to the power of these works and developed this language in his own manner to create even more distorted and complicated human forms. In this work from 1957 the nude's arms and legs and body have been mutated into a compelling new form, part insect, part human. Menacingly lunging forward, the figure tries to escape from the picture plane while the viewer is drawn into it, filled with curiosity and trepidation. Tension is further enhanced by the artist's choice of curious shapes, subdued colours glowing from within and the vigorous brush strokes. The charged emotions invested in this painting may be reflective of the artist's preoccupation with his identity and origin, a recurring subject in his paintings that metamorphose into various forms throughout his life.