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Lot 9

 

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In his monograph on F.N. Souza, Edwin Mullins notes that the artist's landscapes "…are often distorted to the point of destruction - houses no more than lopsided cubes…But they never threaten to dissolve into formalized abstract shapes. The violence and speed with which they are executed keep these images, however distorted, in touch with the painter's vision of what they really are" (Edwin Mullins, Souza, Anthony Blond Ltd., London, 1962, p.... In his monograph on F.N. Souza, Edwin Mullins notes that the artist's landscapes "…are often distorted to the point of destruction - houses no more than lopsided cubes…But they never threaten to dissolve into formalized abstract shapes. The violence and speed with which they are executed keep these images, however distorted, in touch with the painter's vision of what they really are" (Edwin Mullins, Souza, Anthony Blond Ltd., London, 1962, p. 36-38).

Like most of Souza's work from this period, each architectural structure in this vivid, horizontal landscape is given shape and form by the thick black line that the artist used to delineate them. Speaking about the power of this line, Geeta Kapur noted that, "Of the pictorial elements it is decidedly the line which is the most developed part of Souza's vocabulary. Whether it is ornamental or abrupt, lyrical or diabolic, Souza's line is derived from Picasso; from Picasso's unmatched virtuosity in delineating an object or figure with sheer element of line…His paintings are really drawn in paint, the line predominating over all other elements and serving to outline, encase and define an image; serving also to provide tonal variations…and to give the painting a structural and surface unity" ("Devil in the Flesh", Contemporary Indian Artists, Vikas Publishing House Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi, 1978, p. 56, 57).

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