panaji an imposing portrait of j n tata symbolic and allegorical paintings of gandhi and christ articulating the conditions of indians held hostage by exploitation famine and apartheidall painted by antonio piedadeda cruz the distinguished artist 18951982 born in velim will be open to the public at sunaparanta goa centre for the arts from thursday cruzo as he was professionally known was part of the large goan diaspora in bombay where he was much in demand as a salon artist whose patrons included aristocrats and colonial dignitaries ranjit hoskote cultural theorist and poet who is curating the exhibition says that cruzo led an extraordinary double life he painted portraits of the colonial elite on one hand and painted the victims of the colonial system on the other and could switch back and forth his inner circle knew that his sympathies lay with the wretched of the earth his ideological convictions were with the anticolonial struggle says hoskote in one of his paintings come to me an indianized version of the christian mother and child cruzo depicts the mother and infant in rajasthani or kutch folk costume he portrays the child in a crucifixion pose and the painting also has a buddhist lotus and a shaivite nandi in the background this painting was sent to rome along with other paintings for an exhibition in 1950 by fr henry heras sj the spanish jesuit archaeologist and historian in bombay unfortunately 30 years after his death his contributions were forgotten and he had faded into oblivion dattaraj and dipti salgaocar purchased 16 of the masters oil paintings and will showcase his work for the first time in his home state the research exhibition will also have on display 21 archival photographs and sketches from various phases of his career which have never been public before we want to reacquaint people with the work of a master says hoskote there will be a curatorial walkthrough of the exhibition on friday at 430pm