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“We were bold and full of fire. Our landscapes were full of brilliant colours!”
F N SOUZA
F N Souza,
My Friend and I
, 1955
Pen and ink on paper
Reproduced from F N Souza,
Words and Lines
, London: Villiers Publications Ltd., 1959, p. 22
PROPERTY FROM A DISTINGUISHED PRIVATE COLLECTION, DUBAI
23
F N SOUZA
(1924 ‒ 2002)
Untitled (Landscape)
Signed and dated 'Souza 55' (lower right)
1955
Gouache and graphite on paper
14.5 x 21.25 in (36.8 x 54 cm)
Rs 35,00,000 ‒ 45,00,000
$ 52,240 ‒ 67,165
PROVENANCE:
Acquired in Paris, circa 1955
Thence by descent
Private Collection, Brazil
Sotheby’s, London, 7 October 2014, lot 22
1955 was a milestone in Souza’s career when he had a solo show at
Victor Musgrave’s Gallery One in London and achieved overnight
fame as an artist and writer. At the pinnacle of success, his illustrated
short story,
My
Friend and I
is considered iconic. In the background
of the drawing is a medieval cityscape with a dome, steeple and
unembellished walls. In the present lot, also painted in 1955, the
same cityscape, based partly on the London skyline is transformed
by Souza’s imagination into an energetic and striking work of art.