Francis Newton Souza 1924-2002 Amsterdam Landscape

Edwin Mullins, Souza, London, 1962, p. 94, illustrated

'The landscapes, architectonic with their 'cubic factors' are ultimately lyrical. There's an unrestrained enthusiasm, a liberty in the application of colour that is swiftly applied with a palette knife, creating smooth pulsating textures.' (Anthony Ludwig, Souza, New Delhi, Dhoomi Mal Gallery).

Figurative art presents no problem for Souza because he has succeeded in creating images which are entirely personal, yet recognizable at the same time. They 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.' (Mullins 1962, p. 37).

His 'early cityscapes follow a rectilinear structure, which later, in the 1960s, gives way to an apocalyptic vision. The tumbling houses in their frenzied movement are also symbolic of all things falling apart, of the very root of things being shaken.' (Dalmia 2001, p.93). The post-war angst that had inflicted the whole of Europe and works of artists like Francis Bacon and T.S. Eliot would have also had an affect on Souza.