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Lot Essay
"Whether standing solidly in enamelled petrification or delineated in thin colour with calligraphic intonations, the cityscapes of Souza are purely plastic entities with no reference to memories or mirrors." (J. Swaminathan, 'Souza's Exhibition', Lalit Kala Contemporary 40, New Delhi, March 1995, p. 31)
A large work painted in 1956, Winter Landscape depicts Francis Newton Souza’s immediate North London surroundings around Belsize Park and Hampstead Heath, where he lived and worked during the 1950s and 60s. The hilly areas of Hampstead were a muse for the artist during this period, and track the evolution of his landscape painting style from the bold architectonic forms of the 50s into the more gestural and fluid compositions of the early 1960s. Here, Souza captures the pale, desolate atmosphere on a crisp winter’s day in London. The composition, with earthy hills in the foreground, suggests that this is likely a depiction of Hampstead Heath, a landmark at the heart of the artist’s neighborhood.
The thick black line so quintessential to Souza’s oeuvre of the period, delineates the almost geometric architectural structures of stylized Victorian buildings, broken up by a few trees almost barren but for a few traces of green foliage that cowering against the luminescent chalk-colored winter sky. The artist's palette of blues and whites with highlights of ochre, brown, green and red is reminiscent of the stained glass windows found in churches, and alludes to the Catholic imagery of Souza's practice in the mid-1950s. This Winter Landscape, enshrouded in seasonal frost, resonates with pathetic fallacy, its pallid color scheme conjuring a primal power and a sense of the sublime. Souza creates a trichotomy between man, religion and nature, as pastoral and urban traditions collide in a genre at the very heart of the artist’s oeuvre.
A large work painted in 1956, Winter Landscape depicts Francis Newton Souza’s immediate North London surroundings around Belsize Park and Hampstead Heath, where he lived and worked during the 1950s and 60s. The hilly areas of Hampstead were a muse for the artist during this period, and track the evolution of his landscape painting style from the bold architectonic forms of the 50s into the more gestural and fluid compositions of the early 1960s. Here, Souza captures the pale, desolate atmosphere on a crisp winter’s day in London. The composition, with earthy hills in the foreground, suggests that this is likely a depiction of Hampstead Heath, a landmark at the heart of the artist’s neighborhood.
The thick black line so quintessential to Souza’s oeuvre of the period, delineates the almost geometric architectural structures of stylized Victorian buildings, broken up by a few trees almost barren but for a few traces of green foliage that cowering against the luminescent chalk-colored winter sky. The artist's palette of blues and whites with highlights of ochre, brown, green and red is reminiscent of the stained glass windows found in churches, and alludes to the Catholic imagery of Souza's practice in the mid-1950s. This Winter Landscape, enshrouded in seasonal frost, resonates with pathetic fallacy, its pallid color scheme conjuring a primal power and a sense of the sublime. Souza creates a trichotomy between man, religion and nature, as pastoral and urban traditions collide in a genre at the very heart of the artist’s oeuvre.