Important Notice

F N Souza's assertive personality and his zeal to paint bore its fruits in the ability to transform a landscape or a figure, the mundane, into a vivacious frenzy on the painted canvas. In a career defined by unabashed portrayals of individuals and society, Souza painted a number of landscapes which are of great relevance to his experiences. These cityscapes exemplify Souza's accomplishment in creating images that are at once personal and yet... F N Souza's assertive personality and his zeal to paint bore its fruits in the ability to transform a landscape or a figure, the mundane, into a vivacious frenzy on the painted canvas. In a career defined by unabashed portrayals of individuals and society, Souza painted a number of landscapes which are of great relevance to his experiences. These cityscapes exemplify Souza's accomplishment in creating images that are at once personal and yet recognisable.

Creating a considerably greater number of landscapes post his move to London in 1949, Souza's canvases grew more desolate, gestural and dramatic, reflecting the obscurity, dislocation and turmoil that marked his early years in the city (see lot 35). Souza conjures a personal vision, "it is a world that is grim, brilliant, harsh and sensual: a world with little time for compassion or mediation, but only for the recurring dream-like images of longing. On the one hand the deformed, gesticulating figures and the menacing cities silhouetted against the glow of unseen fires; on the other the saint-like figures, standing lost in a landscape, or the erotic nudes who somehow always manage to remain so very impersonal." (Edwin Mullins, Souza, London: Anthony Blond Ltd., 1962, p. 40)

F N Souza's landscapes from the 1960s, the year during which the present lot was painted, were dominated by a rather apocalyptic vision, documenting the post-war gloom of Britain and the mounting tension between nations in the aftermath of the war. Around this time, "Souza's landscapes begin to change drastically. A huge cracker seems to go off in the foundations of his cities and the buildings begin to sway and tumble and lean against each other in frantic postures." (Geeta Kapur, "Devil in the Flesh," Contemporary Indian Artists, New Delhi: Vikas Publishing House Pvt. Ltd., 1978, p. 30)

The present lot, with swift strokes of vermillion and cerise caught within forms made by his thick black lines, is an antecedent of his frenzied cityscapes from the late 1990s. Evocative of a blizzard, the whites engulf the buildings arranged in a horizontal cluster and the shadows devise a sense of depth, immersing the viewer into the pictorial frame. The distortion in the present lot is markedly different from the angular buildings of the landscapes of this period, exuding a more heightened sense of turbulence. The heavy impasto technique reflects the styles of European expressionist painters, such as Chaim Soutine and Georges Rouault.

The genre of landscape, otherwise understood as restricted in scope, was experimented immensely by Souza's contemporaries such as S H Raza (lot 32 and 38), Akbar Padamsee, and K H Ara amongst others. Their landscapes hover on the edge of being a landscape, retaining contemplative and spiritual aspects of form and colour with an enforced sense of individuality making each artist distinct from the rest. In an article published in The Times of India, 1989, Souza expounded on the distinct language for landscape painting which was developed by Indian artists- "We can now look back and be surprised at how those of us from the Progressive Artists' Group, Raza, Gade and myself, completely broke away from the wishy-washy 19th century English watercolourists, an influence which prevailed in Bombay even in the 1940s, and came into our own individual styles; our landscapes were not only very different from those of British painters like to Turner and Constable, we were, although we were very modern, different from the French impressionists. We were bold and full of fire. Our landscapes were full of brilliant colours!" (F N Souza, "Red Trees, Black Skies," The Times of India, 4 June 1989)

Landscape in Red, 1960, embodies the gradual evolution from the structured compositions of the landscapes from the previous decade. Defined by fluid, irregular brushstrokes, the landscapes from this period appear different in technique as a result of "the artist's new-found sobriety [which] allowed him the freedom to move away from previous techniques and repetitive themes to inculcate a manner of direct emotional painting." (Kishore Singh ed., Continuum: Progressive Artists' Group, New Delhi: DAG, 2011, p. 317)

"The Landscapes, architectonic with their 'cubic factors' are ultimately lyrical. There's an unrestrained enthusiasm, a liberty in the application of color that is applied swiftly with a palette knife, creating smooth pulsating textures. While disregarding the limits of the picture plane roads break off into the endless sky and trees appear always in the foreground as colourful 'blurs' (a device Souza uses to create perspective). Our emotions are guided by the effects of the vibrant color schemes that belong to a world of subconscious fantasy indicative of the fertility of Souza's personal vision." (Anthony Ludwig, Souza, New Delhi: Dhoomimal Gallery)

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