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Lot Essay
"The black paintings are more impressive [...]. They are like black stained glass windows, the forms outlined in thick lines like leading. As you move before them and different facets catch the light, they vary in tone, texture (like black velvet) and color (not only blacks and greys, but impressions of purples and indigo) [...]." ('Souza Geoffrey Rao: London Commentary by Cyril Barrett', Studio International, May 1966, p. 213)
In 1966, Souza had an entire solo exhibition of black paintings, entitled Souza: Black Art & Other Paintings at Grosvenor Gallery, London. He also used these colors to deliberately build up the paint's surface creating a relief-like texture to the canvases that borders on the sculptural. Souza's travels in Europe no doubt afforded viewings of Francisco Goya's Pinturas Negras (circa 1819), often cited as an influence on his black paintings of 1965, and they were a radical departure within his oeuvre exclusive only to that year.
In 1966, Souza had an entire solo exhibition of black paintings, entitled Souza: Black Art & Other Paintings at Grosvenor Gallery, London. He also used these colors to deliberately build up the paint's surface creating a relief-like texture to the canvases that borders on the sculptural. Souza's travels in Europe no doubt afforded viewings of Francisco Goya's Pinturas Negras (circa 1819), often cited as an influence on his black paintings of 1965, and they were a radical departure within his oeuvre exclusive only to that year.