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Lot Essay
Ragnar Zedell was one of Souza's earliest patrons in Stockholm in the early 1960s.
In this work from the early 1960s, Francis Newton Souza maximizes his use of the canvas, constructing his cityscape from a series overlapping and highly faceted geometric forms. Collapsing depth of field, Souza circumvents a traditional one-point perspective allowing his architectonic structures to build tightly upon each other in a highly cubistic manner. The monochromatic palette subtly disguises subject matter, highlighting instead the artist's skill with pattern, composition and form. The work wavers between reality and fiction with its corniced buildings and meandering ground line, at times suggesting the catholic architecture which informed so much of Souza's oeuvre.
In this work from the early 1960s, Francis Newton Souza maximizes his use of the canvas, constructing his cityscape from a series overlapping and highly faceted geometric forms. Collapsing depth of field, Souza circumvents a traditional one-point perspective allowing his architectonic structures to build tightly upon each other in a highly cubistic manner. The monochromatic palette subtly disguises subject matter, highlighting instead the artist's skill with pattern, composition and form. The work wavers between reality and fiction with its corniced buildings and meandering ground line, at times suggesting the catholic architecture which informed so much of Souza's oeuvre.