Dominic Winter Auctions
Los 202
* De Morgan (Evelyn, 1855-1919). Blindness and Cupidity Chasing Joy from the City, circa 1897, gold coloured pastel and black chalk on dark grey-brown wove paper contemporaneously laid down on backing board (probably by the artist), depicting the robed female figure of Cupidity, carrying a hoard of precious objects, reaching out towards and following the male robed figure of Blindness, the two figures driving out the angel of Joy from the city towards an iron gate with flowers and vista beyond, some small patches of surface abrasion, and a few fox spots to lower edge, 40 x 59 cm (15 3/4 x 23 1/8 ins), framed and glazed (46.5 x 65.3 cm) QTY: (1)NOTE:Provenance: Clayton-Stamm Collection.One of a very small number of works by the artist executed in gold on dark wove paper. Apart from one such study in Leighton House Museum ('Victoria Dolorosa'), almost all other known studies in gold pastel are held by the De Morgan Foundation, and only one, to our knowledge, has ever before appeared at auction ('The Angel of Death', Dominic Winter Auctioneers, Fine Art Sale, 8th November 2018, lot 458). Only a very few artists used this technique, Edward Burne-Jones being one of them. De Morgan bought dry 'cakes' of gold pigment which she ground to make her own paint and pastels, using them to infuse light and warmth into her works. The De Morgan Foundation (DMF) states "These curious artworks are unlike works by any other artists of the period", adding that they "sparkle with a rare luminosity". These studies seem in the main to have been part of De Morgan's prolific and meticulous output of detailed compositional studies for the full-scale oils she executed, although as the DMF says "These pieces can be considered works of art in their own right and it is apparent that Evelyn often sold them as such".The current work is a preparatory study for Evelyn De Morgan's large-scale allegorical oil 'Blindness and Cupidity Chasing Joy from the City', painted in 1897, and now in the DMF (object number P_EDM_0018; Evelyn de Morgan Oil Paintings, DMF, plate 35). The oil painting was exhibited at the Walker Art Gallery in 1898, at Leighton House in 1902-3, and at Wolverhampton in 1907. The two figures of Blindness and Cupidity are chained to each other, and grope their way forward to an iron gate which blocks the way, a theme which De Morgan returned to at the end of her career in 'The Barred Gate' (circa 1918-19). Both pictures, and a number of others by the artist, convey a powerful message about the spiritual desolation of a life devoted to the corrupting influence of materialism and greed.Evelyn de Morgan's wealth of preparatory drawings give the viewer a fascinating insight into the workings of the artist's mind. Of particular interest here is the figure of Cupidity, who is clearly female in the drawing, but which has morphed into a very much more androgenous figure in the oil painting, with a still feminine figure, but more masculine features (indeed, stated as male in the DMF catalogue online). The figures are obviously the artist's main preoccupation here, with the gate and vista to the right not yet delineated, the dynamic attitudes of the dogs yet to be worked out - their presence only alluded to in outline - and various architectural elements only sketchily outlined or absent. Indeed, this approach is typical of Evelyn's studies in gold; the background detail is pared away, and the figures, in all their beauty, come into stark relief.
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