Francis Newton Souza

Deeply rooted in the post-war artistic terrain of disrupted discourses and shattered forms, the mid to late 1950s mark the apex of Francis Newton Souza’s forays in landscape and architectural compositions. Painted in 1959, the current lot bridges two important periods in Souza's work - the compressed perspective and rectilinear geometry of his architectonic horizons in the 1950s, through to more tumultuous and chaotic skylines that emerged in the 60s. Rendered in thick impasto and striking block colours, this landscape is a gem from this transitional period. 

In 1962, Souza's biographer Edwin Mullins reflected that Souza'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 were executed keep these images, however distorted, in touch with the painter's vision of what they really are.' (E. Mullins, Souza, Anthony Blond Ltd., London, 1962, p. 37)