#07605 Uxio Souto

The drawing presents a group of figures arranged within a landscape setting rendered in ink on paper. The composition is dominated by three nude individuals positioned centrally, surrounded by foliage and suggestive of a naturalistic environment. A dense cluster of trees occupies the right side of the frame, their branches extending upwards and partially obscuring the sky. Behind the figures, undulating hills are sketched with quick, gestural lines, contributing to a sense of depth and atmospheric perspective.
The central figure is a woman standing upright, her body turned slightly towards the viewer. Her posture conveys a certain stillness or contemplation. To her left, two male figures lie in repose on what appears to be a low mound or ledge. One reclines with his head supported by one hand, while the other lies more horizontally, seemingly relaxed and vulnerable. The artist has employed hatching and cross-hatching techniques extensively to model form and create tonal variation across the scene. This technique is particularly evident in the rendering of the figures’ musculature and the texture of the foliage.
The drawings subtexts are open to interpretation but suggest themes of human connection, vulnerability, and a return to nature. The nudity of the figures implies an uninhibited state, stripped bare both physically and potentially emotionally. Their arrangement – the standing woman observing the reclining men – hints at a dynamic between observer and observed, perhaps suggesting power dynamics or a narrative moment frozen in time. The surrounding landscape reinforces this sense of primal existence, positioning the human forms within a larger, indifferent natural order.
The artist’s use of line is crucial to the works overall effect. The rapid, energetic strokes convey a sense of immediacy and spontaneity, while also contributing to the drawing’s expressive quality. The limited tonal range – primarily blacks and grays – further emphasizes the graphic nature of the image, focusing attention on form and composition rather than coloristic effects. A signature and date (1940) are visible in the lower right corner, providing a temporal anchor for the work.