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Lot Essay
"I like Barcelona, though, and I hope to return frequently. Lovely women, good food and drink, the beach, the town, the landscape." (F. N. Souza, Letter to Victor Musgrave, Barcelona, 1958, p. 1)
Souza's landscapes from the 1950s underscored what the artist perceived to be the hypocritical and intimidating forces of society, typically rendered using a dark and somber palette. In comparison, Sa Penya Ibiza is a remarkably, liberated work rendered in shimmering, sun-drenched lucidity. Painted during a joyous sojourn, daubs of white impasto punctuated with pastel reflections, conjure waves of heat and radiant light bouncing off the white washed walls. As noted by Edwin Mullins just a few years later, in comparing Souza to Spain's most famous modernist: "Like Picasso he is restlessly inventive, and the subtlety of his art is at times masked by the sheer vigour of his brushwork." (E. Mullins, Souza, London, 1962, p. 39)
Souza's landscapes from the 1950s underscored what the artist perceived to be the hypocritical and intimidating forces of society, typically rendered using a dark and somber palette. In comparison, Sa Penya Ibiza is a remarkably, liberated work rendered in shimmering, sun-drenched lucidity. Painted during a joyous sojourn, daubs of white impasto punctuated with pastel reflections, conjure waves of heat and radiant light bouncing off the white washed walls. As noted by Edwin Mullins just a few years later, in comparing Souza to Spain's most famous modernist: "Like Picasso he is restlessly inventive, and the subtlety of his art is at times masked by the sheer vigour of his brushwork." (E. Mullins, Souza, London, 1962, p. 39)