Important Notice

With a visual language that was deeply personal and offered astute insights into society, Francis Newton Souza was at the forefront of Indian modernism. His iconoclastic approach to painting was seen as much in his landscapes as in his scathing portraits. He worked with a range of materials and experimented with technique and composition. Souza's landscapes "vary from linear blocks to almost abstract colourful shapes with trees in the foreground... With a visual language that was deeply personal and offered astute insights into society, Francis Newton Souza was at the forefront of Indian modernism. His iconoclastic approach to painting was seen as much in his landscapes as in his scathing portraits. He worked with a range of materials and experimented with technique and composition. Souza's landscapes "vary from linear blocks to almost abstract colourful shapes with trees in the foreground to offset the geometric lines." (Aziz Kurtha, Francis Newton Souza: Bridging Western and Modern Indian Art, Ahmedabad: Mapin Publishing, 2006, p. 118)

The present lot was painted in 1990, two decades after his move from London to New York. The present lot, with its unrestrained gestural brushstrokes, presents the fiery and unbridled approach that made Souza an icon of modern Indian art. The subtle presence of steeples against a mountainous backdrop points to his continued thematic preoccupation with the church. It also recalls the European landscapes that formed a large part of his oeuvre during his time in France and Spain in the early 1960s.

Read More
Artist Profile
Other works of this artist in: this auction  |  entire site