Dreweatts 1759
Los 17
Ambrose McEvoy (British 1878-1927) Miss Violet Henry Oil on canvas 27 x 101cm (50 x 39¾ in.) Painted in 1918.Provenance: The collection of Philip Henry Esq, the sitter's father, Asheville, rth Carolina Thence by descent to the present owner Exhibited: London, Grosver Gallery, International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers, 24th Exhibition, 1918, .18 (catalogued as Miss Henry (Red Cross Portrait)) The Ambrose McEvoy Exhibition, Duveen Brothers, New York, 1920, . 26 Literature: Christian Brinton, The Ambrose McEvoy Exhibition: Introduction and Catalogue of the Paintings, New York, 1920, . 26, illustrated Wigs (ed.), The Work of Ambrose McEvoy, London, 1923, p. 79 John Rothenstein, Modern English Painters: Sickert to Smith, London, 1952, p. 211 Miss Violet Henry (1901-1976) was the daughter of Philip Solomon Henry (1863-1933) who was a Jewish Australian gentleman who made his fortune in copper and coffee before moving to the United States in 1900. Henry married Florence Lewisohn, in April 1900 at Lewisohn Mansion in New York and they went on to have two children, Violet Rosalie Henry and Leore Gladys Henry. Just a year after their second daughter was born Florence tragically passed away, in a fire at the Windsor Hotel in New York. Philip Henry and his children subsequently left New York. In 1908 Henry married Annie Hyatt-Woolfe in Paddington London. It is assumed that Philip, Annie and Philip's two children spent most their time in England until 1930 when it is kwn that Henry, a naturalised US citizen, purchased Zealandia Estate on Beaucatcher Mountain in Asheville. Henry developed the property adding a Tudor mansion and founded the Asheville Art Association and Museum which supported his passion for art and collecting. Henry was recognised as an international Jewish leader and was a board member of the Jewish Theological Seminary. Miss Violet Rosalie Henry married Brigadier Hartley Alfred Macochie, of Somerset, England with whom she had one daughter Jean Susan Macochie. This portrait of Miss Violet Rosalie Henry was painted in 1918 and according to the exhibition held at the Grosver Gallery in the year of its conception, the portrait was likely to have been commissioned as part of a series of portraits McEvoy painted for the benefit of the Red Cross. McEvoy studied under tutors Frederick Brown, Philip Wilson Steer and Henry Tonks and he became close friends with fellow student Augustus John, who went on to become a figurehead of British 20th century portraiture. Influences of Whistler can be seen in the portrait of Miss Violet Henry. The composition of a girl standing at a mantelpiece with her reflection showing in the mirror was one he had seen in Whistler's Symphony in White, .2: The little white girl painted in 1864. McEvoy first experimented with reflections in Ear-ring in 1911 and again in Myrtle in 1912, however its whereabouts is unkwn. This work was exhibited in the ground breaking Duveen Brothers exhibition in New York in 1920. The exhibition ran from 10th March 1920 to the end of the month and exhibited thirty-eight oil paintings and a small collection of watercolours. On the back of the success of the exhibition McEvoy was inundated with commissions and it was clear his reputation which he had worked hard to cement in London was building in New York. Please Note: Miss Violet Rosalie Henry and Brigadier Hartley Alfred Maconochie had two daughters, Violet Sally Florine and Jean Susan Maconochie
