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Lot Essay
The mid-1950s were a transformative period for Francis Newton Souza. After spending a few hard years struggling to make a name for himself in London and support his young family, and on the verge of returning to India, Souza was awarded a grant to study and paint in Paris in 1952. Joining his friends and fellow artists Sayed Haider Raza and Akbar Padamsee there, Souza was able to establish several important relationships with gallerists, dealers and patrons in Paris including Raymond Creuze, Iris Clert and Harold Kovner, who would significantly propel his career over the next few years. By 1954, Souza’s works had been exhibited in group and solo shows at Galerie St. Placide and Galerie Raymond Creuze in Paris, Galerie Palette in Zurich, and ISMEO in Rome, culminating in the inclusion of a few at the prestigious Venice Biennale.
The present lot, a striking vertical landscape, was included in Souza’s one-man show at Galerie Raymond Creuze in 1954, the year after he exhibited there with Raza and Padamsee. One of the most important dealers in Paris at the time, Creuze championed the work of local artists alongside those of visiting international ones at his gallery spaces, including Jean-Paul Riopelle, Serge Charchoune, François Morellet, Kenneth Noland, Harold Cousins and Edward Clark.
Representing perhaps the arduous journey it took Souza to achieve the acclaim and successes he had in 1954, Untitled (Church on a Hill) offers a bird’s eye view of a dark hill covered in brush and bare trees. A spiraling path, dotted with a few houses, leads through these to the summit. At the very top, a church with a spire stands starkly against the grey-blue sky, beckoning weary pilgrims. The church, like the few houses along the path, is brightly colored with blocks of yellow, orange and blue, a beacon of hope in an otherwise bleak landscape. Recalling the stained glass windows Souza saw on his childhood visits to churches in Goa, the vivid coloration of the architectural elements of this painting, set against the unctuous black pigment used to render their surroundings, gives the painting an ethereal atmosphere. Interestingly, in the artist’s treatment of the dark hillside with textured black brushstrokes against a black ground, this landscape also foreshadows the acclaimed series of ‘black paintings’ Souza would complete a decade later (see lot 740).
The present lot, a striking vertical landscape, was included in Souza’s one-man show at Galerie Raymond Creuze in 1954, the year after he exhibited there with Raza and Padamsee. One of the most important dealers in Paris at the time, Creuze championed the work of local artists alongside those of visiting international ones at his gallery spaces, including Jean-Paul Riopelle, Serge Charchoune, François Morellet, Kenneth Noland, Harold Cousins and Edward Clark.
Representing perhaps the arduous journey it took Souza to achieve the acclaim and successes he had in 1954, Untitled (Church on a Hill) offers a bird’s eye view of a dark hill covered in brush and bare trees. A spiraling path, dotted with a few houses, leads through these to the summit. At the very top, a church with a spire stands starkly against the grey-blue sky, beckoning weary pilgrims. The church, like the few houses along the path, is brightly colored with blocks of yellow, orange and blue, a beacon of hope in an otherwise bleak landscape. Recalling the stained glass windows Souza saw on his childhood visits to churches in Goa, the vivid coloration of the architectural elements of this painting, set against the unctuous black pigment used to render their surroundings, gives the painting an ethereal atmosphere. Interestingly, in the artist’s treatment of the dark hillside with textured black brushstrokes against a black ground, this landscape also foreshadows the acclaimed series of ‘black paintings’ Souza would complete a decade later (see lot 740).