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Saffronart | Evening Sale
PROPERTY FROM A DISTINGUISHED PRIVATE COLLECTION, MUMBAI
39
F N SOUZA
(1924 ‒ 2002)
Untitled
Signed and dated ‘Souza 64’ (upper left)
1964
Oil on linen
34 x 39.25 in (86.2 x 99.4 cm)
Rs 1,20,00,000 ‒ 1,80,00,000
$ 181,820 ‒ 272,730
In a career defined by scathing portrayals of individuals and society, Souza painted some
landscapes which exemplify his mastery over the elements of form and space. The present
lot, painted in 1964, is an almost perfect expression of the line techniques at which Souza
excelled. In 1960, he was awarded a scholarship by the Italian Government, to visit Italy
and other countries in Europe, including France. Village scenes in Provence provided the
setting for French Impressionists as well as several of India’s leading Modernists, who were
there to explore new ways of seeing. It is unclear if the city in the present lot is set on a
mountainside or whether the city itself builds up the mountainside. The sloping roofs,
walls and foliage is drawn with Souza’s “iconic line” and only a separation of green and
brown colours creates a horizon line.
In a 1989 article published in
The Times of India
,
Souza expounded on the distinct language
for landscape painting which was developed by Indian artists. It provides a context for
the present lot and explains how Indian artists were searching for their own individual
identities during this decade.
“We can now look back and be surprised at how those of
us from the Progressive Artists’ Group, Raza, Gade and myself, completely broke away
from the wishy-washy 19
th
century English watercolourists, an influence which prevailed
in Bombay even in the 1940s, and came into our own individual styles; our landscapes
were not only very different from those of British painters like to Turner and Constable, we
were, although we were very modern, different from the French impressionists. We were
bold and full of fire. Our landscapes were full of brilliant colours!” (F N Souza, “Red Trees,
Black Skies,”
The Times of India
,
4 June 1989, p. 4)
Paul Cézanne,
Mont Sainte‒Victoire seen from Bellevue
,
circa 1886
Source: Paul Cézanne [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
Perched Village of Bonnieux in Spring, Luberon Regional
Park, Provence, France
© travelstock44 / Alamy Stock Photo
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