Portrait of John Russell

John Russell Taylor, the eminent art and theatre critic and author, was a fixture in the London artistic scene during the 1960s/70s and beyond, writing for the Times Literary Supplement, The Times and television among a score of bio-critical books as well as being Alfred Hitchcock's authorised biographer. He and Souza would have crossed paths and in his 1982 review of both the Royal Aacademy's 'Contemporary Indian Art' and Tate's 'Indian Leaves' curated by Howard Hodgkin, Russell Taylor writes "Of all the artists represented, it is likely that the only familiar name will be F.N. Souza, whose violent and erotic images may be remembered as a feature of London art in the Fifties. To judge from the two canvases here (and how can one judge from just two, both painted eight years ago?) he would seem to have quietened down a bit, dissolving his figure compositions into pretty patterns in pastel shades; he now, apparently, lives in New York."
(The Times, 28 September 1982)