Untitled

Artist Francis Newton Souza demonstrates the inherent tension between nature and civilization in this 1961 landscape. Coating the buildings in a potent red wash, Souza imbues the jagged cityscape with a sense of impending violence. In stark contrast to the vibrant green foliage jutting up in the foreground, the painting illustrates a tumultuous world in which the natural and manmade are constantly at odds. Souza's energetic and deliberate black lines hastily sketch out a city which seems on the brink of dissolution, while flashes of yellow among the red haze suggest fire and flames. The artist's bold use of outline in his paintings conjures images of stained glass windows gathered from his Catholic upbringing. See B. Khanna and A. Kurtha, Art of Modern India, London, 1998, p. 72, for another painting dated to 1961 in a similar palette.