Untitled (Landscape)

Francis Newton Souza's series of black paintings serve as a radical departure within his oeuvre. This series, executed exclusively in 1964-65 culminated in an exhibition of black paintings at Grosvenor Gallery, London, in 1966. Differing critical views on Souza's source of inspiration have alternatively suggested Francisco de Goya's Pinturas Negras series as well as the monochromatic works by Yves Klein. Souza was exposed to the works of conceptual artist Yves Klein, as both were exhibiting in Paris at the Iris Clert Gallery throughout the fifties and sixties.

Souza used black to explore his favorite themes; nudes, portraits, landscapes and cityscapes. In this cityscape, "the substance is black, not the smooth black of pure sensation, but a very palpable black, its solidity created by thick brush strokes in different directions, and by a considerable range of tones according to the paint's direction in relation to the light." (D. Duerden, 'F.N. Souza', The Arts Review, London, 14 May 1966, p. 215) Souza deliberately built up the surface with paint, creating a relief-like texture that borders on the sculptural. The spiny trees and ominous orb in the sky, either black sun or moon, appear in stark contrast to the manmade church-like structure, dwarfing its steeple and suggesting perhaps an inherent tension between nature and civilization.