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Lot 91

 

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One of the paintings from Souza’s black on black series of works, exhibited at Grosvenor Gallery, London, in 1966, the present lot is exclusively executed in the thick black impasto usually reserved for the artist’s bold outlines. In these paintings, “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... One of the paintings from Souza’s black on black series of works, exhibited at Grosvenor Gallery, London, in 1966, the present lot is exclusively executed in the thick black impasto usually reserved for the artist’s bold outlines. In these paintings, “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” (Dennis Duerden, “F.N. Souza”, Arts Review, London, 14 May 1966, p. 215). A radical, albeit brief departure from his oeuvre at the time, this series of works represents the artist’s technical brilliance as well as his constant need to push the boundaries of his practice.

Here Souza portrays the head of Christ in dark monochrome against a heavily textured checkerboard backdrop, using only brushstroke to differentiate one area from the other. Bordering on the sculptural, this painting recalls the Roman Catholic reliefs and icons that Souza encountered in Goa’s churches during his youth.

In addition to testing his own limits and challenging traditional notions of colour and painting, Souza’s black paintings pay tribute to the Spanish artist Francisco de Goya, whose work he encountered at the National Gallery in London and admired greatly, and who also produced a series of Pinturas Negras or black paintings. This series perhaps also drew from the experimental monochromatic paintings of conceptual artist Yves Klein, who was represented by some of the same galleries as Souza in London and Paris.

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