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Lot Essay
In [...] my own activity in matters of paint and words, I am trying to make one of creation within Creation. My drawings and paintings, for instance, are made of a little structure: two parallel lines cross-hatched on either side [...]. All my work - still lives, landscapes, portraits and compositions are based on this principle [...].
(F. N. Souza, 'Nirvana of a Maggot', 1955 reprinted in F. N. Souza: Words and Lines, London, 1959, p. 18)
Souza's simultaneous fascination and ambivalence towards Catholicism have long been documented. Influenced by the pomp and ceremony of the Church, Still Life with Fish depicts liturgical vessels and sacred objects representative of the Eucharist. Richly textured impasto and variegated, skillfully striated surface textures characterize this significant early work. As described in his manifesto, it exemplifies 'creation within Creation' by using the artist's own primordial technique in service of a sacred subject: deliberately building up the paint surface to create a relief-like texture that borders on the sculptural. Similarly this dense, black pigment served as an important precursor to aspects of later figuration in Souza's work, which culminated in an exhibition of black paintings, entitled Black on Black at Grosvenor Gallery in 1966. Still Life with Fish may also be seen as a foundation upon which the artist built some of his most significant biblical compositions, and a seminal exploration by the young Souza of a subject which was to evolve throughout his entire oeuvre.
(F. N. Souza, 'Nirvana of a Maggot', 1955 reprinted in F. N. Souza: Words and Lines, London, 1959, p. 18)
Souza's simultaneous fascination and ambivalence towards Catholicism have long been documented. Influenced by the pomp and ceremony of the Church, Still Life with Fish depicts liturgical vessels and sacred objects representative of the Eucharist. Richly textured impasto and variegated, skillfully striated surface textures characterize this significant early work. As described in his manifesto, it exemplifies 'creation within Creation' by using the artist's own primordial technique in service of a sacred subject: deliberately building up the paint surface to create a relief-like texture that borders on the sculptural. Similarly this dense, black pigment served as an important precursor to aspects of later figuration in Souza's work, which culminated in an exhibition of black paintings, entitled Black on Black at Grosvenor Gallery in 1966. Still Life with Fish may also be seen as a foundation upon which the artist built some of his most significant biblical compositions, and a seminal exploration by the young Souza of a subject which was to evolve throughout his entire oeuvre.