Important Notice

Lot 6

 

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The mid-1950s were a transformative period for F.N. Souza. Given a grant to work and study in Paris in 1952, the artist established several important connections with Western European gallerists and dealers. Although Paris wasn’t “the genuine Mecca for painters” that Souza imagined, it was there that he met Raymond Creuze and Iris Clert, who would significantly propel his artistic career over the next several years. Over the next two years, his... The mid-1950s were a transformative period for F.N. Souza. Given a grant to work and study in Paris in 1952, the artist established several important connections with Western European gallerists and dealers. Although Paris wasn’t “the genuine Mecca for painters” that Souza imagined, it was there that he met Raymond Creuze and Iris Clert, who would significantly propel his artistic career over the next several years. Over the next two years, his works were featured in one-man and group shows at Galerie St. Placide and Galerie R Creuze in Paris, Galerie Palette in Zurich, and ISMEO in Rome, and in 1954 they were included in the display at the prestigious Venice Biennale.

It was in Paris that Souza met Harold Kovner in 1956, his first and, perhaps, his most important patron. “Kovner, a wealthy American, had come over from New York to find a young artist whom he could take up. He saw Iris Clert, who showed him all her pet abstracts, artist by artist. Kovner remained unimpressed. Finally, and with some reluctance, she let him downstairs and produced several paintings by Souza. Kovner jumped. Within 24 hours he had met Souza, given him money, taken away some pictures, made arrangements for the future, and was flying back to New York. The arrangement was a perfectly simple one. Souza was to keep him supplied with pictures every few months – entirely of the artist’s choosing – and in return Kovner would keep him supplied with money. It lasted four years, and Mr. Kovner is now the owner of nearly 200 Souzas. It was a case of patronage of the most simple and practical kind, and needless to say it enabled Souza to live without acute financial worries for the first time in his life” (Edwin Mullins, Souza, Anthony Blond Ltd., London, 1962, p. 26).

Souza explained the relationship saying, “I am now working in Paris under the patronage of an American millionaire…The money I receive from my patron is somewhat glove tight but it is a velvet glove” (as quoted in F.N. Souza, Saffronart and Grosvenor Gallery, New York, 2008, p. 109)

The present lot, one of the larger landscapes painted by the artist, was probably part of the initial consignment of paintings that Souza sent to Kovner in New York. Executed in shades of gray and blue, this desolate yet powerful work juxtaposes weight with lightness through an opposition of land and sky. Commenting, perhaps, on the dual nature of existence as he had experienced it over the last decade, the artist paints dark structures resembling grand cathedrals, set against an open expanse of dappled, powder-blue clouds. Like the buildings, the land is cold, grey and uninviting, barren save for two spindly trees standing sentinel on the path to the more distant church. The hints of red, blue and green in the doors and windows only serve to emphasize the disturbing nature of the scene, reminiscent of a town hastily abandoned by its inhabitants.

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