Important Notice

Lot 4

In the early 1950`s, Souza painted several experimental still lifes that reflected the same modernist approach to form and space evident in his sturdy and sensual nudes of the period. This work marks the critical first steps in the evolution of the artist`s masterful handling of form, light, perspective and color, these pieces had little decoration and were generally executed in darker palettes.

In the present lot, one of the earliest... In the early 1950`s, Souza painted several experimental still lifes that reflected the same modernist approach to form and space evident in his sturdy and sensual nudes of the period. This work marks the critical first steps in the evolution of the artist`s masterful handling of form, light, perspective and color, these pieces had little decoration and were generally executed in darker palettes.

In the present lot, one of the earliest and largest of these still lifes, Souza juxtaposes curvilinear forms with rectilinear ones, and the flat surface of the board with the implied volume of the liturgical vessels painted on it. Foreshadowing his later work, each object in this piece is framed by the substantial black line that became Souza`s hallmark, and endowed with depth and intensity by his more subtle cross-hatching. Acknowledging the importance of these variations on the line in his work, the artist stated in a 1991 interview that "The outline is the scaffolding on which you hang your painting. It is the structure without which art cannot exist and becomes wishy washy…Within the structure you add paint and paint and structure are one and the same" (as quoted in Yashodhara Dalmia, "The Underbelly of Existence", The Demonic Line, Delhi Art Gallery exhibition catalogue, 2000, p.3).

Painted during a bleak time in Souza`s life, when his work was not being accepted by galleries in London and he lived in poverty, this piece predates Souza`s virulent portraits of saints and priests, and the highly decorative still lifes he painted in the mid and late 1950`s that mocked the hollow ornamentation of Catholic practices. Nevertheless, the present lot is highly influenced by religion, featuring vessels of the Eucharist including a Host Box, Chalice, Ciborium and Patens. These objects reflect the artist`s initial, naive fascination with the pomp and pageantry of the Roman Catholic Church. In his essay, "A Fragment of Autobiography", Souza writes that during his childhood in Goa, "The Roman Catholic church had a tremendous influence over me, not its dogmas but its grand architecture and the splendour of its services. The priest dressed in richly embroidered vestments, each of his garments from the biretta to the chasuble symbolising the accoutrements of Christ`s passion" (Words and Lines, Nitin Bhayana Publishing, New Delhi, 2000, p. 9).

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