Full title: Four Boch Keramis Art Deco crackle glazed vases with polychrome floral design, La Louvière, first half 20th C.Description:H 31,5 - 22,7 cm (the tallest and the smallest vase) The base of the vase on the left side with the number '23'. The base of the second vase with the number '23' and the inscribed number '909', referring to the shape of the object. The base of the third vase with the Keramis stamp, the decor number 'D.2762' and the number '31'. The inscribed number rather difficult to read. Vases with the similar design are part of the collection of the Koning Boudewijnstichting (link). The base of the fourth vase with the Keramis stamp and the decor number 'D.2542'. The number '895' inscribed, referring to the shape of the object. Vases with the similar design are part of the collection of the Koning Boudewijnstichting (link). The absence of a condition report does not imply that a lot is in perfect condition. Please contact us to let us know which lots are of interest, so we can make the requested reports for you.Once complete, they will be published on our website.High resolution pictures are already available on our website at www.coronariauctions.com. Further questions are always welcome at info@coronariauctions.com
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Full title: Two Boch Keramis Art Deco crackle glazed vases with polychrome design, one of which mounted as a lamp, La Louvière, first half 20th C.Description:H 31,1 - 22,7 cm The bottom of the Charles Catteau (1880-1966) vase with the stylized swallows with the Keramis stamp and the decor number 'D.1288'. The number '894' inscribed, referring to the shape of the object. The bottom of the vase mounted as lamp with the Keramis stamp and the decor number 'D.1249'. The absence of a condition report does not imply that a lot is in perfect condition. Please contact us to let us know which lots are of interest, so we can make the requested reports for you.Once complete, they will be published on our website.High resolution pictures are already available on our website at www.coronariauctions.com. Further questions are always welcome at info@coronariauctions.com
Full title: Two Boch Keramis Art Deco crackle glazed vases with polychrome flower and butterflies design, La Louvière, first half 20th C.Description:H 31 - 21,6 cm The base of the smallest vase with the Keramis stamp, the decor number 'D.2516' and the number '15'. The letter 'O' and the number '1046' inscribed, referring to the shape of the object. A similar egg-shaped vase is part of the collection of the Koning Boudewijnstichting and can be dated 1938/1940 (link). The base of the vases with the Boch Freres Keramis stamp, the decor number ['D.742'] and the signature 'Ct' (for Charles Catteau). The number '898' inscribed, referring to the shape of the object. Vases with the similar design are part of the collection of the Koning Boudewijnstichting and can be dated 1922/1923 (link and link). The absence of a condition report does not imply that a lot is in perfect condition. Please contact us to let us know which lots are of interest, so we can make the requested reports for you.Once complete, they will be published on our website.High resolution pictures are already available on our website at www.coronariauctions.com. Further questions are always welcome at info@coronariauctions.com
Full title: Three Boch Keramis Art Deco vases with polychrome floral design, La Louvière, a.o. Charles Catteau, first half 20th C.Description:H 29 - 23,6 cm (the tallest and the smallest vase) The base of the smallest vase with the Boch Freres Keramis stamp, the decor number 'D.2062' and the initials 'V.B.' (for Vittorio Bonuzzi). The number '847' inscribed, referring to the shape of the object. The base of the vase on the left side with the Boch Freres Keramis stamp, the decor number 'D.967', the signature of Charles Catteau and the letter 'W'. The number '899' inscribed, referring to the shape of the object. A similar vase is part of the collection of the Koning Boudewijnstichting and can be dated 1925 (link). The base of the vase in the middle with the Boch Freres Keramis stamp, the decor number 'D.958', the signature of Charles Catteau and the letter 'W'. The number '896' inscribed, referring to the shape of the object. A similar vase is part of the collection of the Koning Boudewijnstichting (link). The absence of a condition report does not imply that a lot is in perfect condition. Please contact us to let us know which lots are of interest, so we can make the requested reports for you.Once complete, they will be published on our website.High resolution pictures are already available on our website at www.coronariauctions.com. Further questions are always welcome at info@coronariauctions.com
Full title: Two octagonal and dodecagonal Boch Keramis Art Deco vases with polychrome design, La Louvière, Charles Catteau, first half 20th C.Description:H 14,7 - 12,3 cm The base of the dodecagonal vase with the Keramis stamp, the name of Charles Catteau, the decor number 'D. 1126' and the letter A. The number '1025' inscribed, referring to the shape of the object. A similar vase is part of the collection of the Koning Boudewijnstichting and can be dated 1925 (link). The base of the octagonal vase with the Keramis stamp, the name of Charles Catteau, the decor number 'D. 1127' and the letter A. The absence of a condition report does not imply that a lot is in perfect condition. Please contact us to let us know which lots are of interest, so we can make the requested reports for you.Once complete, they will be published on our website.High resolution pictures are already available on our website at www.coronariauctions.com. Further questions are always welcome at info@coronariauctions.com
Full title: An Austrian silver Art Deco tea box with chamfered corners, 800/000, maker's mark V.M.S. (Vincenz Mayer's Söhne), Vienna, ca. 1920Description: H 10,4 - L 12,1 - D 8,9 cm Weight: 393 g The base inscribed with the numer '255'. Founded in 1810, VM (Vincenz Mayer) was almost as well known as Rothe. The address was Stock-in-Eisen-Platz 7 in the first district of the inner city of Vienna. They made all the Imperial Austrian Orders, along with some smaller pieces such as the Marianna Cross and Red Cross decorations. They also made insignias for various countries, such as Greece, Romania and Serbia. The stars often had a large circular plaque on the reverse with the name and an imperial Austrian eagle. The badges and the stars have initials “V.M” often on more than one location of the piece. After the death of Vincenz Mayer in 1865, his three sons, Vincenz, Joseph and Franz successfully took over the business. Their mark can often be identified as a “VMS” which is usually framed. Their products were of such high quality, they were appointed K.u.K. (royal and imperial) court jewellers and later chamber jewellers to the Emperor and Empress. Due to the economic crisis following the First World War, V. Mayer's Sohne closed in 1922. The absence of a condition report does not imply that a lot is in perfect condition. Please contact us to let us know which lots are of interest, so we can make the requested reports for you.Once complete, they will be published on our website.High resolution pictures are already available on our website at www.coronariauctions.com. Further questions are always welcome at info@coronariauctions.com
Full title: An octagonal Belgian silver Art Deco tray, maker's mark Delheid, 800/000, first half 20th C.Description:40 x 26,6 cm Weight: 902g The absence of a condition report does not imply that a lot is in perfect condition. Please contact us to let us know which lots are of interest, so we can make the requested reports for you.Once complete, they will be published on our website.High resolution pictures are already available on our website at www.coronariauctions.com. Further questions are always welcome at info@coronariauctions.com
Full title: A bottle of Black Bowmore 1964, distilled and bottled by Morrison's Bowmore Distillery, ed. 1897/2000, dated (19)93Description: 70 cl Bottled in 1993, the first edition. Distilled and bottled by Morrison's Bowmore Distillery. Bottle number 1897 of 2000. In wood presentation case. Good labelling. Wax seal quite intact. Level: under shoulder. Single malt, 50% vol. Provenance: - Private collection, Belgium. Acquired by the present owner from Bib Minnekeer in the nineties. Minnekeer is an icon in the Belgian whiskey world. He has been passionate about whiskey for 50 years, having tasted 15,000 single malt whiskeys and he is the founder of the well-known whiskey club 'The Glengarry'. As the icing on the cake, he achieved the highest possible award as a whiskey connoisseur in Scotland: 'Keeper Of The Quaich'. Ref.: - Bottle number 1520/2000 sold at Bonhams, Edinburgh, Dec. 12, 2018, lot 2 (USD 25.998, link). The absence of a condition report does not imply that a lot is in perfect condition. Please contact us to let us know which lots are of interest, so we can make the requested reports for you.Once complete, they will be published on our website.High resolution pictures are already available on our website at www.coronariauctions.com. Further questions are always welcome at info@coronariauctions.com
Full title: An English musical clock painting with an animated Bruges cityscape, first half 20th C.Description:Work: 53 x 73,5 cm Frame: 79,5 x 99,7 cm The cityscape monogrammed 'H.R.D.' in the right bottom corner. The absence of a condition report does not imply that a lot is in perfect condition. Please contact us to let us know which lots are of interest, so we can make the requested reports for you.Once complete, they will be published on our website.High resolution pictures are already available on our website at www.coronariauctions.com. Further questions are always welcome at info@coronariauctions.com
Full title: Flemish school, after Jacques de Gheyn II (1565-1629): Fourteen emblems, ink and watercolour on paper, 17th C.Description:Dia.: 11,5 x 12,2 cm (the smallest and the largest drawing) The emblems taken from the 'Emblemata Amatoria' by Daniel Heinsius (1580-1655), printed in Amsterdam by Dirck Pietersz. in 1608 (link). The original designs made bij Jacques de Gheyn II, as shown by some drawings in the collection of the Herzog Anton Ulrich-Museum, Braunschweig (e.g. inv./cat.nr Z. 542, link). An emblem always consists of an image (pictura) with a saying (inscriptio/motto) and a short poem (subscriptio) and can have all kinds of subjects. Around 1600 Daniël Heinsius made the first Dutch emblem collection, 'Quaeris sit amor?' or 'Emblemata amatoria', which contained only emblems about love. The emblems of Heinsius consist of a pictura with an inscriptio in Latin and an eight-line subscriptio in Dutch (both the Dutch - see verso - and the Latin text - above the emblems - were copied with each emblem). In 1608 a second Dutch collection of love emblems followed, made by Otto Vaenius, a painter and humanist from Antwerp. Poems were published in three languages ​​for the first time in this collection. P.C. Hooft his 'Emblemata amatoria' is the third collection of love emblems in Dutch. As visible, love emblems were a very popular 17th-C. genre. The absence of a condition report does not imply that a lot is in perfect condition. Please contact us to let us know which lots are of interest, so we can make the requested reports for you.Once complete, they will be published on our website.High resolution pictures are already available on our website at www.coronariauctions.com. Further questions are always welcome at info@coronariauctions.com
ANN CARRINGTON (BRITISH B.1962)PEARLY QUEEN OF ST JAMES'S PALACEacrylic and pearl buttons hand sewn on black linen, in artist's perspex box120 x 110cm (47 x 43¼ in.)"Interestingly, the most reproduced work of art in history is not the Mona Lisa. Sculptor Arnold Machin's portrait of the Queen has sold more than 200 billion copies since it was issued in 1967 as the new UK postage stamp. The Machin design has become instantly recognisable - an iconic piece of 20th century design.Collecting stamps as a child, I always found the Machin image strikingly beautiful. As the years went by, this humble stamp I unthinkingly attached to hundreds of envelopes became invisible to me with familiarity, yet gave a sense of continuity.A few years ago, while mulling these things over, a letter arrived at my studio. On a whim I removed the stamp, photographed it and projected the image on to the wall, blowing it up to the size of a small Royal Mail van. On this scale the printing dots looked like buttons, which got me thinking of another great London establishment - the Pearly Kings and Queens.Combining these two threads of thought, my first Pearly Queen was born. A Machin stamp was enlarged on to black canvas and embroidered from pearl buttons specially dyed in a kaleidoscope of high-pitched disco patchwork colours. It was commissioned by Jacob Rothschild in celebration of the Queens 80th birthday, and now hangs in Waddesdon Manor as part of the Rothschild Collection.Elton John, Gwyneth Paltrow and the Earl of Westminster have all commissioned Pearly Queens, but making a queen for the Queen(!) was the pinnacle. Created as a special commission for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee, and made to complement the crimson velvet and golden button banner for the Royal Barge, the stamp artwork hung in the Queen's waiting room.You can't just reproduce Machin's beautiful postage stamp of the Queen - even if it is a hundred times bigger and made from velvet and buttons. One has to have an official licence. Every one of my Pearly Queens is officially licensed by Royal Mail Ltd and The British Postal Museum Archive."- Ann Carrington
An Empire centre pieceFranceMatte and polished gilt bronze of rounded shape with palm friezes, foliage, laurels and beading decoration resting on 4 claw feetPierced bowl of arches and spirals motifs19th century(signs of wear to base but otherwise in very good condition)Signalling wealth and power, gilt bronze made centrepieces reach their highest pick under the First Empire, being frequently composed of a large number of elements, amongst which stood out, as in the example herewith described, the large containers destined to hold flowers and ornamental fruits.For their importance in the household, such objects are eloquent testimonies of the table splendours in the early 19th century, always being signed by the most renowned bronze casters of the period.A considerable number of these luxury objects were produced by Pierre-Philippe THOMIRE (1751-1843), the most important maker of its time, who supplied consecutively King Louis XVI, Emperor Napoleon I, Kings Louis XVIII and Louis-Philippe I as well as their respective courtiers.For its technical and artistic characteristics, this centrepiece is closely related to the best produced in that period.Literature: H. Ottomeyer et P. Pröschel, Vergoldete Bronzen, Munich, 1986.Diam.: 21,33 cm
A tea and coffee setFrancePorcelain PILLIVUYT & Cie à Paris, comprising of 8 tea cups and saucers and 4 coffee cups and saucers.Gilt decoration of dented friezes with interlaced vines in grey with gold and purple monogram surmounted by marquess coronet.Marks: CH. PILLIVUYT & Cie PILLIVUYT & Cie EXP. 1867 MÉDAILLE D'OR in iron oxide. Circa 1870.(in good condition, some wear to gilding) The company Charles PILLIVUYT & Cie was founded in 1818 by Jean Louis Richard PILLIVUYT, who was awarded his first medal in 1823 in New York. In 1830 his eldest son, Charles, enters the company as business director and, in 1847, opens the first PILLIVUYT store at 46 rue de Paradis in Paris.The firm is awarded its first gold medal at the 1855 Universal Exhibition. Also present at the 1862 Universal Exhibition, in London, this porcelain manufacture reinforces its reputation with another gold medal at the 1867 Universal Exhibition. From this latter date onwards, Charles PILLIVUYT can count amongst his customers the members of the highest French elites, such as the Duke of Chartres.The Smithsonian Museum of New York has in his collections, dinner plates and one cake plate by Charles PILLIVUYT.
James Earley (British, B.1981)Kaud signed 'J.Earley' lower rightoil on canvas, framed99 x 69cm (39 x 27 3/16in).Footnotes:James is a self taught artist and uses his work to raise awareness of issues such as homelessness, war and mental health. He first came to prominence in 2013, when he was part of the acclaimed 'Seven Artists Exhibition' held at London's Strand Gallery. 'I was born in the UK, spent many years in France but I am now back living in the UK. I am a self taught artist and I paint those on the very edge of society. I want to use my art to help raise awareness of the issues in the world today, I want to help make the invisible visible and ultimately I want my art to scream. I am always looking to the long term as my ambition is to be a relevant and significant artist today and also in hundreds of years from now.I always had a passion for art, I knew this was my gift yet my career took me away from my passion. It was only in 2015 that I knew that I could no longer live a lie so I swapped a career in business for a profession as a full time artist, a job that in my heart I was always meant to do. My career as an artist has accelerated since 2015. In that time I was part of the prominent 'Seven Artists Exhibition' at The Strand Gallery London. I have also been nominated by The Royal Society of Oil Painters, The Royal Society of Portrait Painters and I received a nomination for the 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2020 BP award. I have had my work displayed in London, Madrid, Paris, New York and Amsterdam and I have been described as one the most relevant artists in the world today by the German Kunst Heute Art publication and the Contemporary Art Curator Magazine. In 2019 I was honoured to win the first prize at the prestigious London Biennale as well as the prestigious International Michelangelo prize for art. In 2020 I was awarded the Venice International Artist Of The Year and in 2021 I was honoured to win The International Confederation of Art Critics Award. I won the Velazquez International Painting award in 2022.' (James Earley, Saatchi Art)He has been the receipt of numerous awards, including the International Prize Giotto, and the International Prize Leonardo da Vinci in 2019 and the International Dante Eligheiri and Collector's Vision International Award,' in 2021. He has also featured on the front covers of International Art Magazine and Vanity Fair in 2017 and 2020.'In May of 2022 I was invited by the Social Purpose Organisation Friendship to visit Nakna village in the remote coastal region of Bangladesh. This area had been hit by cyclones and flooding and the situation was getting worse as climate change accelerated. Friendship and the community were doing a lot of work to protect the village from the impact of the floods and they had embarked on a huge project of planting mangrove trees to protect the coastal areas and strengthen the coastal edge.I wanted to learn how climate change had impacted over the years and I was introduced to one of the elders of the village Kaud Banq. I knew as soon as I saw Kaud that I wanted to paint her. Every wrinkle on her face told a story, her eyes showed her wisdom, her hands clutching tightly at the wooden stick that supported her showed her strength and her beautiful dress showed her pride and dignity. I wanted to create a back ground that would show a path way that instead of looking smaller in the distance as it disappeared in the horizon had the opposite affect, the pathway was getting narrower and narrower as it pushed its way into the foreground. This path that Kaud had taken for 85 years was wide and abundant in her childhood but as climate change gradually impacted the pathway got narrower and narrower as the water level increased. Kaud now stood near the end of this narrowing path surrounded by water.'For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com
James Earley (British, B.1981)Tawid signed 'J Earley' lower rightoil on canvas, framed77.8 x 57.5cm (30 5/8 x 22 5/8in).Footnotes:'I remember seeing a video of Tawhid and being magnetised by his smile and his enthusiasm as he took his first steps. He was surrounded by his friends and family who seemed mesmerised by each small step and I could sense their pride for this brave little boy. Born with cerebral palsy, 13-year-old Tawhid developed locomotor disability and was unable to stand. In remote villages and chars of Bangladesh, disability is often seen as a curse or a penance for their parents' sins. He needed assistance for the most basic of activities, like getting out of bed or going to the bathroom. His disability prevented him from going to school or playing with other children. Disabled children had no real help and no real hope. Friendship's physiotherapists began therapy in his home, visiting every two weeks and prescribing exercises. Tawhid showed incredible improvement in a short time—first learning to stand, and then to walk. His determination and spirit were inspirational.' (James Earley, James Earley's website)For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com
Md Tokon (American-Bangladeshi, B.1980)Don't let the sun go down signed and dated versoacrylic on canvas, framed121 x 91cm (47 5/8 x 35 13/16in).Footnotes:'This work is predicated on colour, light, dark, and space. It shares similarities with the song of British singer Elton John, which is 'Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me.' It is simple, pure, and organic. The work also influenced by my extensive travels to ocean and land. The results are highly emotional and sensational. It is closely connected to dreams and illusions.' (Md Tokon, September 2022.)Md Tokon spent the first half of his life in Bangladesh before relocating to the USA, where he completed his Bachelor of Fine Arts from the City University of New York (2002-2006) and simultaneously enrolled at the Art Students League of New York (2005-2010). Noted alumni from the latter include Cy Twombly and Mark Rothko. Rothko's and the New York abstract expressionist's influence is evident in Md Tokon's works however Tokon's works also incorporate elements of Impressionism and Romanticism, as his works are predicated on colour, space, dark and light. The colours and themes employed in his works are a tribute to both the to tonalities of Bangladesh and the long tradition of abstract art emanating from the country, specifically that of Mohammad Kibria.Tokon favours large canvasses, dramatic colour and loose brushwork. He has been part of numerous solo and group exhibitions in New York, Chicago and Dhaka, and he is the recipient of the 2010 Richard Lillis Memorial Scholarship.For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com
Paul Feiler (British, 1918-2013)Movement II signed, titled and dated 'PAUL FEILER/MOVEMENT II/1967' (on the backboard)oil on canvas40.8 x 40.8 cm. (16 x 16 in.)Footnotes:ProvenanceProbably with the Redfern Gallery, where acquired by the family of the present ownersPrivate Collection, U.K.The present and following lot date to a period of renewal in both Feiler's artistic and personal life. Privately, he separated from his first wife, June Miles, and met a new partner, Catharine Armitage, whom he married in 1970. He divided his time between teaching in Bristol and his studio in Cornwall, where the landscape had long influenced his practice, although increasingly astronomy and industrial machinery would prove to be further points of inspiration. Movement II and Linked Forms, Blue (see lot 15) are both part of a series of works inspired by the motion of a centrifugal pump used for drainage in Cornish mines. Preparatory sketches dating to 1965 depict the heavy machinery surrounded by torrid water streams. Yet for his paintings from the series, Feiler pares back the power of such elements, and calms his subject through abstraction resulting in a clean and dynamic composition.This lot is subject to the following lot symbols: ARAR Goods subject to Artists Resale Right Additional Premium.For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com
Henry Moore O.M., C.H. (British, 1898-1986)Serpent signed and numbered 'Moore 2/9' (on the base)bronze with a brown patina on a bronze base28.3 cm. (11 1/8 in.) long (including the base)Conceived in 1973Footnotes:ProvenanceAlbert FinneySale; Christie's, London, 24 November 2000, lot 46Private Collection, U.K.ExhibitedCaracas, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo, Henry Moore; Esculturas, Dibujos, Grabados. Obras de 1921 a 1982, March 1983, cat.no.E128 (another cast)LiteratureAlan Bowness (ed.), Henry Moore Complete Sculpture 1964-73, Volume 4, Lund Humphries, London, 1977, cat.no.637 (ill.b&w, another cast)Exh.cat., Henry Moore; Esculturas, Dibujos, Grabados. Obras de 1921 a 1982, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo, Caracas, 1983, p.112, cat.no.E128 (ill.b&w p.114, another cast)Serpentine motifs first appeared in Moore's oeuvre in the twenties when he was a student at the Royal College of Art in London. During this period Moore became fascinated by objects displayed at the British Museum and he later recalled 'one room after another in the British Museum took my enthusiasm. The Royal College of Art meant nothing in comparison ... And after the first excitement it was the art of ancient Mexico that spoke to me most' (Henry Moore quoted in James Johnson Sweeny, 'Henry Moore', Partisan Review, March–April 1947). This attraction came at a moment of cultural fervour and interest around Latin American and especially Mexican pre-Columbian art all around Europe. One piece at the British Museum which particularly attracted Moore's attention was a stone rattlesnake, dated between 1300-1521. Of it he stated, 'although the snake is coiled into a most solid form, it has a real air of menace, as if it could strike at any moment' (exh.cat, Henry Moore at the British Museum, London 1981, p.74). Convoluted serpents can be found in his sketchbooks from 1921 and 1922, and by 1924 he would sculpt his first in marble – Snake (Private Collection). Over the course of his career, Moore would go on to produce three other snakes: Head of Serpent (1927, travertine marble, on long-term loan to Tate), Snake Head (1961, bronze) and finally the present work in 1973.This lot is subject to the following lot symbols: ARAR Goods subject to Artists Resale Right Additional Premium.For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com
Augustus John O.M., R.A. (British, 1878-1961)Portrait Head of a Girl (Possibly Ethel Nettleship) conté crayon23.2 x 20.1 cm. (9 1/8 x 7 7/8 in.) (sheet); 17.5 x 15.5 cm. (6 7/8 x 6 1/8 in.) (image)Footnotes:ProvenanceSir William RothensteinSir John Rothenstein, thence by descentSale; Sotheby's, Olympia, 26 February 2003, lot 63With Jonathan Clark & Co, LondonWith The Piccadilly Gallery, London, March 2005, where acquired by the family of the present ownersPrivate Collection, U.K.Ethel Nettleship was the sister of the artist's first wife Ida. John frequently drew Ida and her sisters Ursula and Ethel around 1900.We are grateful to Rebecca John for her assistance in cataloguing this lot.This lot is subject to the following lot symbols: ARAR Goods subject to Artists Resale Right Additional Premium.For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com
Henry Moore O.M., C.H. (British, 1898-1986)Recumbent Figure bronze with a brown patina on a wooden base13 cm. (5 1/8 in.) long (excluding the base)Conceived in 1938 and cast in bronze prior to 1948, in an edition of 9Footnotes:ProvenanceMarion and Gustave Ring, Washington D.C.Private Collection, New YorkWith James Goodman Gallery, New YorkWith Waddington Galleries, London, 2004, where acquired by the family of the present ownersPrivate Collection, U.K.ExhibitedFlorence, Forte di Belvedere, Henry Moore, 20 May-30 September 1973 (another cast)Caracas, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo, Henry Moore; Esculturas, Dibujos, Grabados. Obras de 1921 a 1982, March 1983, cat.no.E85 (another cast)Washington D.C., Hirshhorn Museum and Sculptural Garden, Selections from the Collection of Marion and Gustave Ring, 17 October 1985-12 January 1986, cat.no.35 (this cast)Jerusalem, The Israel Museum, Focus on the Collection: Henry Moore, July 2004-March 2005, cat.no.8 (another cast)LiteratureRobert Melville, Henry Moore: Sculpture and Drawings, 1921-1969, Thames and Hudson, London, 1970, p.100, cat.no.174 (monumental stone version illustrated, pp.100-101)Franco Russoli and David Mitchinson, Henry Moore Sculpture, With Comments by the Artist, London, Arthur A. Bartley, 1981, p.74, cat.no.121 (col.ill., another cast)Exh.cat., Henry Moore; Esculturas, Dibujos, Grabados. Obras de 1921 a 1982, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo, Caracas, 1983, p.100, cat.no.E85 (col.ill, another cast)Virginia Wageman (ed.), Selections from the Collection of Marion and Gustave Ring, Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D.C., 1985, cat.no.35, (coll.ill., as Reclining Figure)David Sylvester, (ed.), Henry Moore: Complete Sculpture, 1921-1948, Lund Humphries, London, 1988, Volume 1, p.11, cat.no.184 (monumental stone version illustrated, pp.112-113, no. 191)It is alleged that James Bolivar Manson, director of the Tate Gallery between 1930 and 1938, once said 'Over my dead body will Henry Moore ever enter the Tate'. Yet just one year following his retirement, the Tate (under the directorship of John Rothenstein) gladly accepted Moore's large green Hornton stone carving Recumbent Figure of 1938. Of all Moore's work perhaps, this carving (for which the present work is a maquette) came to symbolise not just Moore's output but to act as shorthand for modernity in 20th Century Britain.Recumbent Figure was commissioned by the architect Serge Chermayeff, who was building himself a modernist home on the Sussex Downs. The carving was to be positioned at the intersection of Chermayeff's terrace and garden, the connection point between his contemporary architecture and the ancient rolling countryside beyond. Moore recalled 'My figure looked out across the great sweep of the Downs and her gaze gathered the horizon. The sculpture had no specific relationship to the architecture. It had its own identity and did not need to be on Chermayeff's terrace, but it so to speak enjoyed being there, and I think introduced a humanising element; it became a mediator between modern house and ageless land' (Henry Moore in Sculpture in the Open Air, British Council film, 1955, transcript reprinted in Alan Wilkinson (ed.), Henry Moore: Writings and Conversations, Aldershot 2002, p.258–9).Chermayeff ran into financial woes, and Recumbent Figure was returned to the artist, from whom it was purchased by the Tate in 1939. The carving was immediately shipped to New York to be showcased at the British Pavilion of that year's World's Fair, and due to the outbreak of war this intended brief excursion turned into a several-year-long stay. The work was displayed at MOMA and this unplanned circumstance greatly bolstered Moore's reputation in North America. The museum's director wrote in 1946 'It was with great regret that we saw it leave. It had won wide esteem among the museum visitors.' (John James Sweeny, letter to John Rothenstein, 7 March 1946, Tate Public Records TG 4/9/568/1).Following Recumbent Figure's return to the UK, the carving was featured in Battersea Park's first open-air exhibition, where again it drew much attention. Vogue magazine featured the work across its pages alongside sharply dressed models, appropriating Moore's carving as a symbol of the newness so appreciated by its fashion forward readership. In contrast, cartoonists satirised the figure, and in this context the carving's status as a modern icon was subverted to poke fun at politics of the day. Through such broad exposure the carving soon became one of the most famous modern works within the Tate's collection, a status confirmed when its image was included prominently as part of the tiling display at Pimlico station.At the time Moore carved the four-and-a-half-foot Recumbent Figure it was his largest and most ambitious work to date and only made possible by his recent move from Hampstead in London to Burcroft in Kent. The larger studio-space, ability to work outdoors and the hiring of Bernard Meadows as an assistant enabled Moore to increase the scale of his work substantially. To aid this new practice Moore produced a maquette for Recumbent Figure in clay. This is the first time in his career that he adopted a method of scaling up, which would become a mainstay of his sculptural practice thereafter. Meadows recalled that he and Moore attempted, unsuccessfully at first, to cast the clay maquette to lead in a meadow field at Burcroft. Moore subsequently cast the clay to a bronze edition in 1945, to which the present cast belongs.Not only does Recumbent Figure represent one of Moore's earliest maquettes, most importantly it possesses one of the earliest instances of piercing the form, a major development of a highly important device the artist would frequently draw upon throughout his career. Speaking of this progression at the time, Moore stated that 'The first hole made through a piece of stone is a revelation. The hole connects one side to another, making it immediately more three-dimensional. A hole can have as much shape-meaning as a solid mass. Sculpture in air is possible, where the stone contains only the hole, which is the intended and considered form' (Henry Moore, 'A Sculptor Speaks', Listener, 18 August 1937, pp.338–40).This lot is subject to the following lot symbols: ARAR Goods subject to Artists Resale Right Additional Premium.For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com
Henry Moore O.M., C.H. (British, 1898-1986)Reclining Figure No. 6 bronze with a brown patina on a stone base22 cm. (8 5/8 in.) long (excluding the base)Conceived in 1954 and cast in bronze in 1956, in an edition of 12 plus 1 artist's proofFootnotes:ProvenanceWith Marlborough Fine Art, London, circa late 1950s, where acquired byPrivate Collection, U.S.A.Private Collection, U.K.LiteratureIonel Jianou, Henry Moore, Arted, Paris, 1968, p.79, cat.no.346Robert Melville, Henry Moore: Sculpture and Drawings, 1921-1969, Thames and Hudson, London, 1970, n.p., cat.no.487 (ill.b&w, another cast)Alan Bowness (ed.), Henry Moore Volume 2: Complete Sculpture 1949-54, Lund Humphries, London, 1986, p.45, cat.no.337 (ill.b&w, another cast)John Hedgecoe, Henry Moore, A Monumental Vision, Collins & Brown, London, 1998, p.216, cat.no.308 (col.ill., another cast)Reclining Figure No.6 represents the culmination of a focused examination by Moore of one of his most fundamental themes, the reclining figure. This examination is displayed across a concise group of maquette-scaled figures, numbered 1 to 6 and executed between 1952 and 1954. Moore utilises a variety of treatments across this small group, and together they display the vast breadth of Moore's concern with this motif.Some of the group nod towards classicism, rendered naturalistically and clothed in drapery with precisely described details such as hands, faces and hair. Others recall primitive and ancient carving, with symbolist features that draw upon the Mayan chacmools which had many years prior first ignited Moore's fascination with the reclining form. Some, including Reclining Figure No.6, are abstracted to a greater degree. Their figural forms appear to have been mined from within the sculptor's material itself and are most attuned to Moore's concern with landscape. The legs and arms are denoted by piercings and negative space, hips, and shoulders by refined planes of mass. Their bodies are composed of great peaks and valleys, they are diminutive in scale, but substantial in presence.It was this specific form, Reclining Figure No.6, which Moore deemed so successful that he scaled it up to an eight-and-a-half foot elmwood carving, Reclining Figure of 1959-64 (now in the collection of The Henry Moore Foundation). Over his career Moore carved just six great reclining figure elmwood carvings, the first in 1935, the last in 1978. They are generally considered some of his finest work, in which the artist's control of the wood's broad grain to articulate the undulations of flesh is perhaps the strongest demonstration of his credence of truth to material. Five of the six Elmwood carvings, including the one relating to the present work, are in international museum collections.Interestingly, the maquette for Reclining Figure No.6 (now in the collection of The Henry Moore Foundation) was formed from a skeleton of plaster, over which the artist applied a surface layer of wax. This was an experimental use of materials for Moore, but highly successful. The sturdiness of the plaster allowed for a dynamic architectural form, awarding the figure a powerful rhythmic presence, yet the pliable wax layer affords a finer degree of refinement resulting in a highly nuanced surface.It should be noted that Moore's preoccupation with the present form began with the maquette in 1952-3 and peaked with completion of the elmwood carving in 1964. This period straddles one of Moore's greatest commissions, the monumental 16-foot UNESCO figure of 1956-8 carved in travertine marble. The two compositions share several features such as the enlarged and planed shins, which counterbalance the visual weight of the upright torso, and the alert, raised head which sits above a series of ovoid holes formed by poised limbs.Other casts from this edition are in the collections of the Montréal Museum of Fine Arts, The Henry Moore Foundation and the Milwaukee Art Museum.This lot is subject to the following lot symbols: ARAR Goods subject to Artists Resale Right Additional Premium.For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com
Gerald Leslie Brockhurst R.A., R.P., R.E. (British, 1890-1978)Pool of Bethesda oil on canvas103 x 128.5 cm. (40 1/2 x 50 1/2 in.)Footnotes:ProvenanceA.C.J. Wall, thence by descent to the present ownersPrivate Collection, U.K.ExhibitedLondon, Royal Academy of Arts, Summer Exhibition, 3 May-14 August 1915, cat.no.681The present work depicts the miraculous healing told in the Gospel of John (5:1-15). With Christ's word, the waters of the pool of Bethesda stirred and a man who had been invalid for 38 years was cured. This subject was painted by several of the Old Masters, including Murillo, Panini, Tiepolo and Hogarth, whose Christ at the Pool of Bethesda (1735-36) hangs at St Bartholomew's hospital. In Brockhurst's variation the scene is classically composed in a Nazarene manner as the young artist pays homage to the great tradition of biblical painting. Yet there are ample hallmarks of the style which he was to refine throughout his career; the intricacy and pattern of the drapery and awnings, the deftly rendered expressive faces and the dramatic employment of varying light sources that isolate the key figures from their surroundings. Fifteen years after the work was first exhibited it was noted that 'The picture gives ample presage of that which subsequently transpired, and it also contains a self-portrait, in the figure of the dark-eyed man behind Christ' (Jessica Walker Stephens, 'Gerald Leslie Brockhurst, ARA, RE', Apollo, 1930, p.118). In addition to the self-portrait, it is more than likely that Brockhurst's first wife Anaïs Folen, modelled for a number of the female figures, identifiable by her dark hair and strong features.The painting was executed whilst Brockhurst was at the Royal Academy Schools, and for it he received a Gold Medal award and traveling scholarship in 1913. He had proved a prodigious talent, having previously won the Armitage Medal, named for the Victorian painter Edward Armitage, who may have influenced the present work. In 1915 Pool of Bethesda was accepted to the Royal Academy's Summer Exhibition, the first work by Brockhurst to be shown there (he would later be elected R.A. in 1937).The present, prior and following lots all formerly belonged to A.C.J. Wall. Wall purchased, and commissioned, several further works by Brockhurst including a portrait (sold in these rooms, 23 June 2015 for £20,000, see fig.1).Wall was a Birmingham based industrialist who started collecting in the 1930s. His was an eclectic taste, ranging across paintings, ceramics, furniture and sculpture. He was well known as a benefactor to the arts, particularly in Birmingham where he was the mayor, and he was known to have sat for a bust portrait by Jacob Epstein. Selected works from his collection were sold by Christie's in 1970 with many pieces being bought by leading international museums.We are grateful to Professor Kenneth McConkey for his assistance in cataloguing this lot.This lot is subject to the following lot symbols: ARAR Goods subject to Artists Resale Right Additional Premium.For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com
Christopher Richard Wynne Nevinson A.R.A. (British, 1889-1946)A Canadian Dawn signed 'C.R.W. NEVINSON' (lower right)oil on canvas61.2 x 45.8 cm. (24 1/8 x 18 in.)Footnotes:ProvenanceElizabeth Russell Workman, thence by descent to the present ownerPrivate Collection, U.K.ExhibitedLondon, Leicester Galleries, An Exhibition of New Works by C.R.W. Nevinson, October-November 1919, cat.no.2Manchester, City Art Gallery, C. R. W. Nevinson Exhibition, July-August 1920, cat.no.22Elizabeth Russell Workman (1874-1962) and husband Robert Alfred Workman (1872-1948) were collectors of Post-Impressionist and Scottish art (including work of the Scottish Colourists), and supporters of the avant-garde. Elizabeth appears to have been the more discerning and adventurous collector. As Wyndham Lewis recalled in his autobiography Blasting and Bombardiering: 'Mrs. Workman (of whom I did an excellent portrait) was one of the only people in England to understand French painting, of which she had some remarkably fine specimens'. No less than three Nevinson paintings were acquired by members of the Workman family from the war artist's solo Peace exhibition at the Leicester Galleries in 1919. A Canadian Dawn was Elizabeth's choice, and of the three pictures the one that stayed in the family the longest. All three pictures, that is Elizabeth's, husband Robert's and brother-in-law William's, were borrowed by Manchester City Art Gallery for their Nevinson Exhibition of 1920.Nevinson's stock as a painter, in those post-First World War days, was still high, and he still had the aura of a 'rebel', reminding us that Nevinson had been vitally involved, in pre-war days, in that product of the British avant-garde's prime mover Wyndham Lewis, the Rebel Art Centre in Great Ormond Street.We are grateful to Christopher Martin for his assistance in compiling this catalogue entry.For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com
Christopher Richard Wynne Nevinson A.R.A. (British, 1889-1946)The Peaceful Rhythms Of The Downs signed 'C.R.W NEVINSON' (lower right)oil on canvas63.9 x 76.6 cm. (25 1/8 x 30 1/8 in.)Footnotes:ProvenanceWith Dicksee & Co, Glasgow, 1941Private Collection, U.K., thence by descent to the present ownerPrivate Collection, U.K.ExhibitedLondon, Royal Academy of Arts, Summer Exhibition, 5-9 May 1941, cat.no.240Possibly London, Royal Academy of Arts, The Second United Artists' Exhibition in aid of H.R.H. The Duke of Gloucester's Red Cross and St. John Ambulance Fund, 1 January-7 March 1942, cat.no.72 (as September Morn)The Peaceful Rhythms of the Downs was one of six pictures Nevinson exhibited as an A.R.A. at the Royal Academy in 1941, and the only one not directly referring to wartime themes and events. The title, however, is telling, suggesting the contemporary viewer might find consolation, looking away from war to its opposite, in a 'peaceful' downland vista located in an area close to Amberley in West Sussex. The eye is led up the track on the left to a lone tree, a pivotal point, from which fields, slopes and lines of trees fan out. The landscape is variously worked but devoid of figures, this second world war having created a shortage of land workers, as had the first. There are levels of rhythm in the lines and groups of trees: choppy, toothed, islanded or sinuous, as along and shouldering the crest of the down, which Nevinson evokes with, in T.W. Earp's phrase, 'a lyric fervour'. Nevinson, so much the war artist, found peace in such a landscape, as he did in listening to classical music. The painting's colouring is quiet, yet embracing many shades of green, and earth and straw colours, below a sky of light, passing clouds. In wartime, pensive and melancholic, Nevinson built here on many years of depicting the English landscape, to reach an apotheosis of his art.The Peaceful Rhythms of the Downs was one of a number of Nevinson's landscape paintings reproduced full-size by the Medici Society. Other titles, of a similar size, included Spring in Suffolk and After the Storm. This meant the images reached an audience beyond the galleries and exhibiting societies. The Peaceful Rhythms of the Downs became a print in the 1940s, and the print can be glimpsed on the wall of an apartment in the 1947 film The Dream of Olwen, also known as While I Live (director, John Harlow).We are grateful to Christopher Martin for his assistance in compiling this catalogue entry.For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com
Lynn Chadwick R.A. (British, 1914-2003)Two Reclining Figures stamped and numbered 'CHADWICK 72 643S 1/6' (on the back of male figure)bronze with a black patina and polished faces on a granite base80.1 cm. (31 1/2 in.) long (excluding the base)Conceived in 1974 and cast in 1986Footnotes:ProvenanceSale; Bonhams, London, 29 November 2005, lot 120, where acquired by the family of the present ownersPrivate Collection, U.K.LiteratureDennis Farr & Éva Chadwick, Lynn Chadwick, Sculptor, With a Complete Illustrated Catalogue 1947-1996, Lypiatt Studio, Stroud, 1997, p.276, cat.no.643SDennis Farr & Éva Chadwick, Lynn Chadwick, Sculptor, With a Complete Illustrated Catalogue 1947-2005, Lund Humphries, Aldershot, 2006, p.284, cat.no.643SDennis Farr & Éva Chadwick, Lynn Chadwick, Sculptor, With a Complete Illustrated Catalogue 1947-2003, Lund Humphries, Farnham, 2014, p.291, cat.no.643STwo Reclining Figures by Lynn Chadwick exude a relaxed aura, resting partly on their sides with the male and female figures joined at the thighs so that the sculpture is one, substantial unit, heightening their sense of togetherness. There is an intimacy inherent in this piece which is difficult to locate in Chadwick's sculptures from the 1950s and 60s and a sense of privacy that we feel as the passing viewer. The male, positioned behind, lifts his right thigh and hip as if he may be about to envelop his partner in a protective and tender moment. The gentle and naturalistic modelling of the female's torso and breasts recalls Chadwick's slightly earlier Elektra I (1968) but here only the faces are polished to give a sleek and shiny surface. The present work rejects the rougher more primitive finish of his first major figure group, The Watchers (1960). The female contrasts most effectively with the more rigid, angular planes of her partner. He is less rounded and voluminous, and the two exquisitely complement one another. It is likely the couple are simply sunbathing, raising their necks so that their faces, at right angles to their bodies, are fully exposed to the rays of the sun they are apparently worshipping. Two Reclining Figures was made shortly after Chadwick and his wife Éva established their own foundry, at Lypiatt Park, Gloucestershire. With Éva by his side, and looking after the business side of his profession, Chadwick emerged out of a period of debt in the 1960s into one with more financial stability. His international reputation had long been secured, and with the luxury of his own foundry from 1971 the sculptor was able to scrutinize the accuracy and quality of the casting process.We are grateful to the Artist's Estate for their assistance in cataloguing this lot.This lot is subject to the following lot symbols: ARAR Goods subject to Artists Resale Right Additional Premium.For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com
Duncan Grant (British, 1885-1978)Vanessa Bell in a Yellow Shawl oil on canvas72.7 x 51.5 cm. (28 5/8 x 20 1/4 in.)Painted circa 1911-12Footnotes:ProvenanceThe Artist's Estate, until 1987With Hirschl & Adler Galleries, New YorkWith Davis & Langdale Company, New York, where acquired by the present ownerExhibited New York, Hirschl & Adler Galleries, British Modernist Art 1905-1930, 14 November 1987-9 January 1988, cat.no.126New York, Davis & Langdale Company, Duncan Grant (1885-1978), 1997LiteratureJohn Russell, 'A Bloomsbury Founder, Always With an Idea', The New York Times, 7 March 1997, p.C30Duncan Grant painted and drew Vanessa Bell (1879-1961) countless times between 1911 and Bell's death in 1961 (when he drew her on her deathbed). All these portraits reflect both the personal intimacy of the two painters as well as Grant's sometimes dizzying changes of style – from brilliant Post Impressionism to the careful portrayals of her as an old woman. The present audacious work is one of the very first images he made of her and is a startling example of the 'divisionist' style Grant adopted in 1911 (which Bell called his 'leopard manner'). The origins of this style are mixed: Grant may have seen early Matisse paintings in which Pointillist handling is evident; also works by Cézanne and Signac (but not Seurat); and the mosaics Grant greatly admired in Sicily in early 1911. The best known of these 'leopard manner' paintings are The Queen of Sheba (Tate) and Portrait of George Mallory (National Portrait Gallery). He sometimes used both fluent and spotted styles in the same painting, but the latter gradually disappears in 1913 (although it is found in some specifically decorative works in 1913-14). Pure, often unmixed colour was applied in spots and square, parallel brushstrokes, the image tightened by a few dark lines as seen here on the left side of Bell's face.In several early portraits, Bell is fancifully dressed in striking hats or, as here, with a long yellow shawl over her head. It should be stressed that Bell was modelling for Grant rather than sitting for her portrait. He does not attempt to capture her particular beauty and flattery was a concept unknown to his personality. There is just a possibility that she is wearing metal spectacles, similar to these worn by Katherine Cox in another 'leopard manner' portrait (1912; two versions; Clandeboye, Northern Ireland; National Museum of Wales, Cardiff).This painting remained with Grant and was inventoried by Bell in 1951 as 'VB in yellow and orange'. It was in his estate from 1978 until shown in New York in 1987 and has been in the U.S.A. until the present.We are grateful to Richard Shone for his assistance in compiling this catalogue entry.This lot is subject to the following lot symbols: * AR* VAT on imported items at a preferential rate of 5% on Hammer Price and the prevailing rate on Buyer's Premium.AR Goods subject to Artists Resale Right Additional Premium.For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com
Glyn Warren Philpot R.A. (British, 1884-1937)The Sisters of the Artist signed and dated 'Glyn Philpot 1922' (lower left)oil on canvas142.3 x 111 cm. (56 x 43 3/4 in.)Footnotes:ProvenanceThe Artist, thence by descent to the present ownerPrivate Collection, U.K.ExhibitedLondon, Royal Academy of Arts, The exhibition of the Royal Academy of Arts, 1 May-7 August 1922, cat.no.145London, Grosvenor Galleries, Paintings and Sculpture by Glyn Philpot R.A., 1923, cat.no.11 (as The Sisters)Liverpool, Walker Art Gallery, Fifty-first Autumn Exhibition, 1923, cat.no.1067Wembley, British Empire Exhibition, 1925, cat.no.49New York, World's Fair, Contemporary British Art, 1939, cat.no.100Brighton, Brighton Art Gallery, Glyn Philpot R.A., 1884-1937, 3 April-3 May 1953, cat.no.12London, Leighton House, Drawings, Paintings and Sculpture by Glyn Warren Philpot R.A. 1884-1937, 7-28 February 1959 (followed by tour with Art Exhibitions Bureau, 1959-60), cat.no.31Oxford, Ashmolean Museum, Glyn Philpot R.A., 1884-1937; A Commemorative Exhibition, 15 September-28 November 1976, cat.no.12London, National Portrait Gallery, Glyn Philpot 1884-1937; Edwardian Aesthete to Thirties Modernist, 9 November 1984-10 February 1985, cat.no.31Chichester, Pallant House Gallery, Glyn Philpot: Flesh and Spirit, 14 May-23 October 2022LiteratureRoyal Academy Illustrated, 1922, p.2 (ill.b&w)Daisy Philpot, Manuscript Catalogue of Portraits by Glyn Philpot, c.1938-57, p.5 (ill.)A.C.Sewter, Glyn Philpot 1884-1937, (foreword by T Bodkin), 1951, pl.40 (ill.)Robin Gibson, Glyn Philpot 1984-1937 Edwardian Aesthete to Thirties Modernist, National Portrait Gallery Exhibition Catalogue, London, 1984, pp.62-63, ill.col p.20 and b&w p.63Simon Martin and Alan Hollinghurst, Glyn Philpot: Flesh and Spirit, Pallant House Gallery, Chichester, 2022, p.46, fig.36 (col.ill)Philpot's important painting The Sisters of the Artist depicts two of his elder siblings, Daisy (right) and Gertrude (left). At this period Philpot often used family and close contacts as models, but the titles he gave to pictures such as the present work and Gabrielle and Rosemary, Nieces of the Artist (Ashmolean Museum, Oxford) underlines the importance of these specific sitters to him. As Robin Gibson comments 'Philpot was the youngest member of the family. His sisters were both extremely fond of him, and Daisy in particular was often called upon to pose for him. Gertrude was born at the family home - 31 The Grove, Clapham - in 1879. She married Clement Cross in 1907 and died in 1957. Daisy, who was three years younger, was also born in Clapham. Remaining unmarried, she devoted much of her life to her brother's interests, even after his death. She died in the same year as her sister.' (Robin Gibson, exh.cat., Glyn Philpot 1984-1937 Edwardian Aesthete to Thirties Modernist, National Portrait Gallery Exhibition Catalogue, London, 1984, pp.62-63).Gibson commented further that the work itself is 'almost wilfully conservative in its very Shannonesque colouring and the rather Victorian feel of the long dresses, it has a haunting, timeless quality and almost existentialist atmosphere of resignation which could only belong to the twentieth century' (Ibid.).When the painting was first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1922 the Evening Standard judged it as 'the outstanding work of genius'. The following year The Sisters of the Artist was included in Philpot's first major solo exhibition, which also received rapturous acclaim. The critic P.G Konody declared 'Few living artists could emerge from the ordeal of a one-man show as triumphantly as Mr Glyn Philpot whose exhibition at the Grosvenor Galleries reveals not only a craftsman of the rarest distinction, but an artist who can turn from penetrating and conscientious portraiture to lofty imaginative conceptions' (P.G. Konody, Daily Mail, 14 April 1923).The Sisters of the Artist has subsequently enjoyed an impressive exhibition history. Outings include the World's Fair in New York in 1939 (alongside Henry Moore's Recumbent Figure – see note for lot 24), the major 1953, 1976 & 1985 artist retrospectives, and most recently at this year's Glyn Philpot: Flesh and Spirit exhibition at Pallant House Gallery, Chichester.For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com
Sir Winston Spencer Churchill O.M., HON. R.A. (British, 1874-1965)Branksome Dene signed, inscribed and dated 'Mrs Cassel from Winston/1916.' (upper right)oil on canvas50 x 60 cm. (19 11/16 x 23 5/8 in.)Footnotes:ProvenanceThe Artist, by whom gifted to Lady Helen Cassel, thence by descent to the present ownerPrivate Collection, U.K.LiteratureDavid Coombs with Minnie Churchill, Sir Winston Churchill: His Life and His Paintings, Running Press, Philadelphia, 2004, p.240, fig.512 (C 525) (col.ill.)'It seems to me that, of all the countries in the world, this country is the one that should direct the attention of painters to the sea ... In the endless interpretations of those changing forms we will find a source of inspiration and a source of culture which ought to contribute to the general movement of our island life.' (Sir Winston Churchill, from 'Sea Power' in Art, July 1937) In his Catalogue Raisonné of Sir Winston Churchill's collected works, David Coombs gives the painting the informal title Branksome Dene, which places it as a view from the home of Churchill's close friend the financier Sir Ernest Cassel on the south coast of England. It is an important and truly unique work that gives insight into Churchill's earliest motivations, influences and ambitions as an artist. Moreover, it is a work that combines his passion for both painting and the sea, and in so doing draws together his personal and political life.Created in the earliest period of Churchill's practice as an artist, the painting successfully captures the calm atmosphere of the scene. It was the light, colour and mood of the sea that inspired the numerous seascapes that Churchill produced during his lifetime - from the coast of England to the south of France and even Miami, he spent many happy days with his paints and brushes by the sea. A year before gifting the present painting to the wife of his friend, Churchill first took up a brush in 1915. At that time, he was enjoying a much-needed retreat from political life in the Surrey countryside. It was during this period that he was encouraged to take up painting in order to counter a bout of deep depression. He swiftly became deeply devoted to his new 'pastime', taking up paints and brushes at home, with friends and on holidays. As David Coombs has written, 'It was the challenge and difficulty of capturing satisfactorily the scene before him which proved such a tonic to his mind.' From the outset Churchill sought to learn as much as possible about painting technique to develop his skills. He benefitted from knowing some of the greatest artists of the day, including Sir John Lavery, Walter (Richard) Sickert and William Nicholson, all of whom offered Churchill wisdom and advice. Alongside these painters was the British sea painter (Albert) Julius Olsen RA, who was a particular influence on his sea paintings. Churchill also sought to study from those artists he admired, travelling to Paris to see the Impressionists, sought out paintings by Turner, and copied the works of the great masters in order to apply their techniques. For the composition in the present painting Churchill fixes our gaze out to sea. The work is a tightly framed, compressing view of the coastline. The white cliffs reach out along the horizon out to the ship which thoughtfully structures the work and acts as a focus of the picture. Our view is enclosed by trees, lending a sense of intimacy to the work, with the foliage enhancing the horizon and cloud-filled sky. Churchill gently infuses the work with a sense of peace and serenity. The painting may be read as a moment of stillness before a gathering storm ahead, and the demanding times for which Churchill is perhaps most famous.Barry Phipps is an art historian and Fellow of Churchill College, University of Cambridge and we are grateful to him for compiling this catalogue entry.This lot is subject to the following lot symbols: ARAR Goods subject to Artists Resale Right Additional Premium.For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com
William Roberts R.A. (British, 1895-1980)The Punters (The Punt) signed 'Roberts' (lower right)oil on canvas40.6 x 50.8 cm. (16 x 20 in.)Painted circa 1943Footnotes:ProvenancePrivate Collection, U.K.LiteratureWilliam Roberts, Paintings and Drawings by William Roberts R.A., London, privately printed, 1976, pl.2 (ill.)The outbreak of war in September 1939 gave William Roberts a much-needed opportunity. With the turmoil abroad came a great degree of personal upheaval in having to relocate the family and find new work, however, the conflict also brought about new subject matter that favoured his figurative style, which had spent much of the 1930s in the shadow of Abstraction (epitomised by the Unit One movement and spearheaded by Paul Nash and his contemporaries). In 1940, with the growing threat of invasion and bombing, William and Sarah Roberts moved out of London and settled in Marston, a suburb of Oxford on the banks of the River Cherwell. The locality provided rich inspiration including a gypsy encampment around the corner from their home and the river with its punting, fishing and riverside picnics offered the mixture of nature and human activity that Roberts liked best. Painted in 1943, the present work is a tightly composed composition held together by a series of diagonals that guide the eye in a zig zag across the picture plane. Punting poles, human limbs, reflections in the water and the cows' backs all serve this purpose and make for an ingenious design that the artist first trialled in a watercolour and three pencil studies. The serene pastoral scene brings to mind the work of the Old Masters and comparisons have been drawn with Poussin and Andrew Gibbon Williams states 'The calculated deliberation with which Roberts orchestrates his multiple figure groups is analogous to that of the French master; it is as if Seventeenth-Century Classicism is being strained through the sieve of Cubism' (William Roberts, An English Cubist, Lund Humphries, Aldershot, 2004, p.105). This effect can also be seen in another tour-de-force from this Oxford period Parson's Pleasure (Private Collection, 1944). Roberts favoured complex compositions which often showed popular leisure pursuits and here we have an all-female group of punters who are making steady progress through this calm, pastoral scene, the river apparently so still that their limbs and those of the cows which stand and rest above are reflected with mirror-like accuracy in the cool water. Roberts has succeeded in distilling a sense of tranquillity, and conjures the impression of a hot but still summer's day. He also invokes a sense of harmony, of human activity and the natural world co-existing peacefully side by side, each enjoying the pleasures of the countryside, as the cows look on with a benevolent air, mostly at rest, either chewing the cud or idly grazing. The colour palette of the present work is also especially rich, with the whole scene infused with a sense of warmth. The cows are sensitively and generously rendered in warm umber, inky black and with patches of creamy white, while the sky is a warm, glowing orange, the cows resting in the shade of the tree. A man rests on a gate in the background, perhaps in respite from the heat of the day, while the women keep cool in swimsuits in rich shades of teal, maroon and brown. In this very tightly-constructed, complex composition, Roberts effectively shows us a snapshot of life in the countryside as he must have observed it, conveying a sense of this hot, still summer's day with masterful ease. Please see the introduction to the preceding lot for further detail on the provenance of this work. We are grateful to David Cleall and Bob Davenport for information provided about this lot.This lot is subject to the following lot symbols: ARAR Goods subject to Artists Resale Right Additional Premium.For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com
Eileen Agar (British, 1899-1991)Phoenix signed 'AGAR' (lower right)oil on canvas46.2 x 56 cm. (18 1/8 x 22 in.)Footnotes:ProvenanceWith the New Art Centre, London, where acquired by the family of the present ownerPrivate Collection, U.K.'Life's meaning is lost without the spirit of play.'(Eileen Agar)Eileen Agar (1899-91) was born in Buenos Aires to a wealthy family but moved to England for her education and in 1921 she joined the Slade School for Art before travelling to Paris at the end of the decade. It was here that she met Max Ernst (1891-1976), Joan Miró (1893-1983), and André Breton (1896-1966), among others and discovered the Surrealist movement, as well as being trained in Cubism. She was drawn by the sensuality and irrationality of Surrealism, as well as the idealism and logic of Cubism but did not subscribe to the radical politics of her European counterparts and disliked how the group behaved towards women.Stylistically, Phoenix may be dated to circa 1932, a pivotal time of change for the artist and one that set her on her course to later widespread acclaim. The artist commented of this time 'I started to show my work, and in 1932 exhibited with the National Society of Painters, Sculptors, Engravers and Potters, at the Royal Institute Galleries in Piccadilly. My first press cuttings are from this show, and I was at once ambitious for more. My work was changing and beginning to assume a more lyrical and imaginative presence of its own. As I grew in confidence I was impatient to have my work seen by a larger public'. (Eileen Agar, A Look at My Life, Methuen, London, 1988, p.102). In the present example, this imaginative presence takes the form of the mythological Phoenix, an immortal bird, heavily abstracted and rising triumphantly in an explosion of colour and form.In 1936, Agar was invited by Herbert Read and Roland Penrose to exhibit work at the International Surrealist Exhibition at the New Burlington Galleries, London. The notoriety of the exhibition raised her public profile considerably and, in 1937, she was one of the few artists asked to submit work for the Fantastic Art, Dada and Surrealism exhibition held at the Museum of Modern Art, New York.This lot is subject to the following lot symbols: ARAR Goods subject to Artists Resale Right Additional Premium.For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com
Roger Hilton (British, 1911-1975)December '63 signed and titled 'HILTON/DEC '63' (verso)oil and charcoal on canvas127 x 114 cm. (50 x 44 7/8 in.)Footnotes:ProvenanceWith Waddington Galleries, LondonMr and Mrs W. MortonSale; Sotheby's, London, 4 July 2001, lot 173 (as Composition 1963)With Godson & Coles, London, 2002, where acquired by the family of the present ownersPrivate Collection, U.K.The 1960s ushered in a period of growing critical and commercial acclaim for Hilton. May 1960 saw Hilton's first solo exhibition at Waddington's, with institutional purchases gathering pace: the British Council acquired the first of eleven paintings that they were to buy of his work, with paintings also sold to the Tate, the Arts Council, the Gulbenkian Foundation and the Ferens Art Gallery in Hull. Abroad, travelling exhibitions featured his work, including in the British Council-organised British Painting 1700-1960, which was shown in Moscow and Leningrad, while European Art Today: 35 Painters and Sculptors, organized by the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, travelled to Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York. Clement Greenberg, the most influential art critic of the 20th Century who shaped the reception of modern art in America, was to see this exhibition and write to Hilton praising the 'real character' shown in his paintings, which was quite an accolade from this notoriously hard-to-impress critic (Clement Greenberg quoted in Andrew Lambirth, Roger Hilton: The Figured Language of Thought, Thames & Hudson, London, 2007, p.139). Alan Bowness was a key supporter and not only wrote catalogue introductions which gave serious weight to Hilton's work, but also recommended the purchase of his paintings by public bodies, including the Contemporary Art Society. In November 1963, Hilton was to win first prize in the prestigious John Moores Exhibition in Liverpool, for the painting March 1963. The present lot, December '63, was painted the month after he won this most fêted prize, and it exhibits all the richness and exuberance that characterises Hilton's best work. With glowing ochre and bold blues, the vibrant colours of this work marks out the painting as particularly special. While these strong hues may be the first to catch the viewer's eye, Hilton's careful handling of a complex but measured palette shows his flair and mastery of the abstract medium at this time which had been so lauded by the critics, and rightly so. The painting is bordered by delicate, warm peach tones, while white and off-white paint is applied with varying techniques to provide contrasting intensities of colour, and a painted surface which intrigues. While the central area has a thin, sparing layer of off-white paint, the half-circle along the lower edge has been created first with a palette knife, the upper sliver then finished with swirling impasto strokes. A mist of hazy charcoal is smoothed over the central area of paint lending a grainy, subtle, shadowed surface to the work, inviting closer inspection and fading off towards the top edges. Bold brushstrokes luxuriate in the application of the deep royal blue and cobalt tones, catching the light and showing Hilton's delight in the slick, smooth application of these rich paints. While painting provides the form of the present work, Hilton's ever-present concern with drawing shapes it, contains it, encircles it, defines it. His characteristic charcoal line provides the organic sweep that curves through the centre of the work, reminiscent perhaps of bodily shapes, but often intangible or so far removed from the original source, that one can only see a suggestion or trace of this. As Andrew Lambirth has noted, for Hilton, incorporating charcoal into a painting was his own unique development, integral to many of his most successful abstract works: 'Visible charcoal lines in a painting usually suggest under-drawing, the artist's preliminary ideas. Hilton turned this preconception on its head, for in his pictures the charcoal was of crucial importance, as important as the paint' (ibid., p.111). In fact, Hilton often applied the charcoal last, not first, raising the drawn line to equal status as the traditionally exalted paint. As Lambirth has so succinctly put it: 'in a very real way, the drawing is as important as the painting' (ibid., p.155).In the present lot, we have a supreme example of Hilton's best work from a decade when critical and commercial appreciation began to really recognise his achievements. A master of the medium, this is a painter at the height of his powers. In an abstract language that suggests, but is not defined by, its references to the outside world, be that figural muse or airy Cornish landscape, Hilton created a style which combines the painterly gesture and drawn line which is uniquely his own.This lot is subject to the following lot symbols: ARAR Goods subject to Artists Resale Right Additional Premium.For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com
Christopher Wood (British, 1901-1930)Flowers in a Blue Vase oil on canvas35.9 x 30.1 cm. (14 1/8 x 11 7/8 in.)Painted in 1922Footnotes:ProvenanceJack BeddingtonHans & Elsbeth JudaTheir sale; Sotheby's, London, 26 April 1972, lot 132, where acquired by the father of the present ownerPrivate Collection, U.K.ExhibitedSheffield, Graves Art Gallery, In Our View: Some Paintings and Sculpture bought by Hans & Elsbeth Juda between 1931-1967, May-June 1967, cat.no.160LiteratureEric Newton, Christopher Wood, Redfern Gallery, London, 1938, cat.no.9Exh.Cat., Robert Melville, In Our View: Some Paintings and Sculpture bought by Hans & Elsbeth Juda between 1931-1967, Graves Art Gallery, Sheffield, 1967, n.p., cat.no.160 (ill.b&w)For Christopher Wood the year 1922, his twenty-first, was to be the year his artistic aspirations accelerated at a profound rate. In January he wrote to his mother stating 'My ambition as I said is to be a great painter and as I am learning now I shall stand every chance of becoming one' (quoted in Richard Ingleby, Christopher Wood, An English Painter, Allison & Busby, London, 1995 p.52). By early summer his sights were set much higher. In June he would again write to his mother declaring 'I have decided to try and be the greatest painter that has ever lived' (Ibid p.59). Wood's charismatic bravado is by no means unique among young artists, however as the following years were to prove his assuredness was quite merited. Throughout the 1920s, Wood led a fascinating and fabled existence, connecting with many great artists including Picasso, Cocteau and Lhote on the continent, and the Nicholsons, Morris and John in Britain. He exhibited successfully, including as a member of The Seven and Five Society, and developed an idiosyncratic painterly vocabulary which joyfully fused post-impressionism and primitivism. The meteoric rise of his star was tragically cut short by suicide just a decade into his career. Despite his short years, it is generally accepted that without Wood's contributions and connections, the history of modern British painting could have taken a different course entirely.The present painting is a rare example dating to the year in which Wood's ambition was at its peak, and his artistry was enlivened by a rich array of influences. With minimal formal training to date, his talent and charm had already attracted the attention of a wealthy collector named Alphonse Kahn. Kahn's renowned collection of modern paintings afforded Wood close access to works by Cézanne, Matisse and the Old Masters, and his sponsorship enabled Wood to study in Paris at the Académie Julian, whilst living in Montmartre. There Wood became acquainted with the Chilean diplomat José Antonio de Gandarillas, with whom he would travel extensively. In February of 1922 Wood and Gandarillas toured Northern Europe, including Brussels, Ghent and the Netherlands. Spring would take them to the South of France and the casinos of Monte Carlo, before crossing the Mediterranean to Tunis and on to Sicily, Malta and Greece. In August they set sail from Athens to Constantinople, before weaving through central Europe back to London in autumn. Throughout he painted a small number of still-lifes, such as the present work and Lemons in a Blue Basket (Pallant House, Chichester). These paintings display Wood's early prowess as a colourist, and as noted by Katy Norris reveal that Wood 'seemed to understand that the creation of emotional narrative was related to the sensuous qualities of the objects and the manner in which they were held together within the space' (Katy Norris, exh.cat., Christopher Wood, Lund Humphries, London, 2016, p.33). Such works are informed in part by Cézanne, especially in composition, but also by Van Gogh, whose letters Wood discovered in 1922 and whom he would develop an adoration of. Specifically, it is Wood's flower paintings which can be considered the fruit of this idolisation. As Katy Norris highlights 'Wood observed a perfect synergy between the simplicity of Van Gogh's paintings and his modest rural existence that was to have a determining impact on the young artist's own approach to art and life' (Ibid. p.46). The present work was formerly in the collection of Hans and Elsbeth Juda. Hans Juda (1904-1975) founded The Ambassador export journal for textiles and fashion, and Elsbeth Juda (1911-2014) was a pioneering fashion and art photographer whose subjects included Henry Moore, John Piper, Kenneth Armitage, Peter Blake, and Graham Sutherland, whom she photographed in 1954 on the occasion of Winston Churchill's final sitting for Sutherland's famously ill-fated portrait of the statesman.We are grateful to Robert Upstone for his assistance in cataloguing this lot.For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com
Dame Barbara Hepworth (British, 1903-1975)Wave Forms (Atlantic) signed and dated 'Barbara Hepworth 1964' (lower right); further signed, titled and dated again 'Barbara Hepworth/Wave Forms (Atlantic) 1964' (verso)oil and pencil on board76.2 x 101.4 cm. (30 x 39 7/8 in.)Footnotes:ProvenanceWith Gimpel Fils, LondonDr Pierre TurquetWith Marlborough Gallery, LondonSale; Christie's, London, 10 November 1989, lot 379With Marlborough Fine Art, London, where acquired by the family of the present ownerPrivate Collection, U.K.ExhibitedLondon, Gimpel Fils, Barbara Hepworth: Sculpture and Drawings, June 1964, cat.no.49London, Marlborough Fine Art, Summer Exhibition, 1965, cat.no.25London, Tate Gallery, Barbara Hepworth, 3 April-19 May 1968, cat.no.218LiteratureAlan Bowness, Drawings from a Sculptor's Landscape, Cory, Adams & Mackay, London, 1966, cat.no.69 (col.ill.)Mervyn Levy, Drawing and Sculpture, Studio International, Volume 171, Number 873, January 1966, Cory, Adams & Mackay Limited, p.28 (ill.b&w)Abraham Marie Hammacher, Barbara Hepworth, Thames & Hudson, London, 1968, p.146, pl.123 (ill.)This painting is recorded as D484 in the catalogue compiled by Hepworth.Wave Forms (Atlantic) was created at a time when Hepworth was at the peak of her career. In 1964, her most important and famous commission was unveiled at the United Nations Secretariat in New York, the monumental sculpture Single Form. The following year, she was to be made a Dame Commander of the British Empire and also appointed a Trustee of the Tate Gallery, while exhibitions both at home and abroad further celebrated her work, with shows in London and New York, the Netherlands and Scandinavia. The Cornish landscape continued to be an evergreen source of inspiration for her, the light, stone and sea informing so much of her work. Since first moving down to Cornwall in 1939 with Ben Nicholson and their triplets, and after several moves within Carbis Bay, in 1949 Hepworth bought Trewyn Studio in St Ives, where she lived from December 1950 until her death in 1975. Many of the paintings and drawings from 1960 onwards were made in Hepworth's Barnaloft studio flat, which had a view of Porthmeor Beach and the Atlantic Ocean. In Wave Forms (Atlantic), one feels the intimate relationship between artist and the elements and the close proximity of the two to one another. As a viewer, we are immersed in the composition which is dominated by the deep blue water as it churns and moves turbulently through the pictorial space, generating through its energy and power the frothy whiteness of the breaking surf. The force with which the water is crashing and our proximity to it is conveyed through the thicker spots of white pigment that occupy the area towards the top of the painting, indicative of spray. Further complex colour tones have been used to describe the scene and Hepworth herself wrote particularly poetically of how, 'the sea, a flat diminishing plane, held within itself the capacity to radiate an infinitude of blues, greys, greens and even pinks of strange hues' and how 'the incoming and receding tides made strange and wonderful calligraphy on the pale granite sand which sparkled with feldspar and mica' (Barbara Hepworth, Drawings From A Sculptor's Landscape, London, Cory Adams & Mackay, 1966, p.12). The medium of oil and pencil is one which Hepworth favoured and the contrast of strong, definite graphite over washes of colour something which she particularly enjoyed. In Wave Forms (Atlantic), we see the curving lines and shapes echoing and complimenting the rhythm of the sea. In this case the pencil has been rather subtly applied with the oil predominating but leaving a strong sense nonetheless of a sculptural impression on the surface. Hepworth has further worked into the surface of the board, largely apparent on the right-hand side of the composition, by scraping back to reveal the whiteness of the primed surface underneath, in turn echoing the light and rough, rocky surfaces of the coast. Drawings were for Hepworth a means of capturing new ideas for sculpture and, as she stated in Drawings from a Sculptor's Landscape in 1966, it was a life-affirming act. Hepworth wrote that, 'Whenever I am embraced by land and seascape, I draw ideas for new sculpture: new forms to touch and walk around, new people to embrace, with an exactitude of form that those without sight can hold and realize' (Ibid., p.11). Hepworth's important and large curved sculpture Sea Form (Atlantic) was conceived in 1964, the same year as the present work, with casts housed in the Dallas Museum of Art and the City of Norwich Museum.We are grateful to Dr Sophie Bowness for her kind assistance with the cataloguing apparatus for the present work.This lot is subject to the following lot symbols: ARAR Goods subject to Artists Resale Right Additional Premium.For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com
Adrian Heath (British, 1920-1992)Red Painting signed and dated 'Heath 62' (lower right)oil on canvas91.8 x 96.2 cm. (36 1/8 x 37 7/8 in.)Footnotes:ProvenanceWith Hanover Gallery, London, where acquired by John Weeks, 1962, and thence by descent to the present ownerPrivate Collection, U.K.ExhibitedLondon, Hanover Gallery, Adrian Heath, 12 December 1962-12 January 1963, cat.no.10'Alterations are frequent, shapes amalgamate or divide, new colours are superimposed or old ones intensified. These alterations are caused by the reaction of the painter to the physical aspect of his work, and to the demands that they seem to make as well as to the mood that they create within him. It is the ability to develop and finally unite both mood and structure that gives to that work its meaning and identity.' (Adrian Heath, Introduction to Statements Exhibition, I.C.A., 1956, quoted in Adrian Heath, Recent Paintings, Hanover Gallery, London, 1959).During the early 1960s Heath's work increased in scale, the largest seen to date, resulting from his reaction to the American abstract expressionists and in particular the work of Willem de Kooning and Robert Motherwell. But unlike the Americans, Heath's paintings emerged from his preliminary drawings, either of landscapes or figures, and in this sense were not as spontaneous as they first appear. The period witnessed noticeable change in Heath's paintings, at a time when Hanover Gallery in London staged three separate exhibitions from 1959-1962. By the final instalment, softer more fluid forms had taken over from the geometric, hard-edged shapes Heath had built his early career on, as evident in the present work.This lot is subject to the following lot symbols: ARAR Goods subject to Artists Resale Right Additional Premium.For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com
Mary Martin (British, 1907-1969)Six Groups signed and dated 'Mary Martin '63' (verso)stainless steel, Formica, wood and painted wood relief91.5 x 91.5 x 9cm (36 x 36 x 3 1/2in)(unframed)Footnotes:ProvenanceWith Molton & Lords Gallery, London, 1964, where acquired by Dennis Lennon, thence by descent to the present ownerPrivate Collection, U.K.ExhibitedLondon, Molton & Lords Gallery, Mary Martin, February 1964, cat. no.14Mary Martin was an innovative Constructivist artist, part of an avant-garde group which included Victor Pasmore, Robert Adams, Adrian Heath, Anthony Hill and her husband Kenneth Martin, who she had met while studying at the Royal College of Art. Martin explored the possibilities of making constructed abstract art, often using the medium of the relief and three-dimensional forms to do this, beginning from the early 1950s onwards. She is best known for her complex reliefs which used square and rectangular shapes organised in different permutations often to dazzling effect, exploring the many combinations she could create from the repetition of one simple element, which later focussed on the cube. As she herself wrote in 1957, 'the end is always to achieve simplicity'.Six Groups is a particularly striking example of Martin's signature style, and at 91.5 x 91.5cm, it is larger in scale than the majority of her other reliefs. This work was included in her solo exhibition at Molton and Lords Gallery in 1964, where Martin showed a number of related relief constructions. The common unit for all these works was the right-angled wedge, created from a cube of wood cut diagonally in half, with the rectangular surfaces then covered in a thin sheet of stainless steel, each set at 45 degrees. Set against an impressive background of black Formica, the reflective surfaces of the stainless steel are arranged to catch the light at numerous different angles. As David Sylvester noted in the catalogue essay accompanying her exhibition at Molton and Lords in 1964: 'The wedges are juxtaposed with the reflecting surface facing in all the various possible directions, so creating jagged contrasts of light and shadow which change as the spectator's position or the direction of the light changes.' (D. Sylvester, Mary Martin, Molton & Lords, 1964, n.p.) Despite creating a relief using hard, industrial materials in geometric shapes, Martin creates a sense of movement and rhythm into which the viewer is drawn to interact. The present work takes its title from the six groups of sixteen wedges which are arranged in a four by four formation. The groups have then been arranged asymmetrically on the Formica background, allowing the negative spaces to fill the remaining areas of the square. Six Groups shares with all Martin's reliefs an underlying mathematical logic, and she used principles informed by the Golden Section, Fibonacci sequences and pendulum permutations to devise the complex patterns she created.The present work has a special and interesting provenance, having been acquired from Molton and Lords Gallery in 1964 by the architect Dennis Lennon. Dennis Lennon was one of London's leading architects and designers in the 1960s. After a distinguished career in the war, his first job was with Maxwell Fry. Following this he became director of the Rayon Design Centre, where he offered the up-and-coming young designer Terence Conran his first job after seeing his end-of-term show. He set up his own practice in 1950, and was one of designers for the 1951 Festival of Britain. Examples of his furniture designs are in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum, and from 1963-1998 he was the set designer for many productions at Glyndebourne. He was also responsible for co-ordinating the design for the Cunard ocean liner the Queen Elizabeth II in the 1960s. In 1968, House and Garden magazine illustrated Six Groups hanging in situ in Dennis Lennon's home, Hampermill House. He was a great patron of the arts, and bought many pieces from up-and-coming artists of the time, and knew Francis Bacon, John Piper and Graham Sutherland.Particularly striking and impressive, Six Groups is a formidable example of Martin's best work, and the scarcity of her reliefs means that the chance to acquire one is a rare opportunity. A similar work, Spiral, also created in 1963 and exhibited alongside Six Groups in 1964 at Molton and Lords Gallery, is in the collection of the Tate, London, who acquired it directly from the above exhibition in 1964.We are grateful to Dr. Susan Tebby and the Estate of Mary Martin for their assistance in cataloguing this lot. A full analysis of the mathematical systems used in Six Groups by Dr. Susan Tebby is available on request.This lot is subject to the following lot symbols: ARAR Goods subject to Artists Resale Right Additional Premium.For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com
John Piper C.H. (British, 1903-1992)Byland Abbey signed and dated 'John Piper/1940' (lower right); further signed, inscribed and dated again 'Byland Abbey/by/John Piper/For Basil &/Frances./Nov. 1940' (verso)oil and pen and ink on canvas laid on board30 x 25.4 cm. (11 3/4 x 10 in.)Footnotes:ProvenanceThe Artist, by whom gifted toBasil and Frances Creighton, thence by descent toPrivate Collection, U.K.Their sale; Bonhams, London, 3 March 2011, lot 58With The Fine Art Society, London, where acquired by the present ownerPrivate Collection, U.K.Having become a leading British abstract artist in the mid 1930s, John Piper came to feel that it was an insufficient outlet for his artistic interests and sought to return to a more representational form of art. John Betjeman records that in 1938 he approached the artist to produce a Shell Guide to Oxfordshire. The task led Piper back to a childhood interest in architecture and in particular English churches. In the course of production of the Guide for which he took many photographs, he also produced a number of watercolours which Betjeman commended for their accuracy, affection, humour and feeling for texture and surrounding landscape.Following this project John Betjeman subsequently wrote: 'From 1938 until the war he [Piper] made regular tours to various parts of England and Wales, looking for stained glass, churches with box pews in a Cotman state of picturesque decay, ruins, early industrial scenery, Welsh lakes and waterfalls, follies, country houses, [and] Yorkshire caves. He came back with hundreds of water-colours and material for later oils.The transition from water-colour to oil is marked.... The landscapes in oil are essays in the careful use of colour which, though it may not be 'like', is like what the place painted is like to a poet. He believes that paint should not be thrown on, or scratched in, anyhow: but just as a church relates itself to a tree in a picture or a folly to a hill it stands on, one piece of paint should agree or disagree, combine or contrast with another and with all the other pieces.' (John Betjeman, John Piper, Penguin Books, 1948 edition, p.12-13).This period of travel throughout England and Wales between 1938 and the onset of the Second World War in September 1939 provided the material for Piper's first solo exhibition at the Leicester Galleries in March 1940 and proved highly successful. Piper's change of style and the success of the Leicester Galleries exhibition in turn led to Piper being commissioned as a war artist by Kenneth Clark, who, at the time, was the Director of the National Gallery.From August 1940 with the onset of the Blitz, Piper was phenomenally busy recording the destruction of the city churches at Bath, St Mary le Port Bristol, and subsequently Coventry Cathedral in November 1940. The series of oil paintings that he produced at this time, using his theory of colour very successfully conveyed the drama of this particular period in British history. Byland Abbey now belongs to English Heritage and is located at Coxwold in North Yorkshire. Founded in the twelfth century by a community of monks it was renowned for its sheep rearing and production of wool. The church, which was 100 metres long, was the largest in the country and rivalled the great cathedrals of Europe. Completed circa 1195 the church façade, with its distinctive ruined outline, is the subject of the present work.This lot is subject to the following lot symbols: ARAR Goods subject to Artists Resale Right Additional Premium.For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com
Sophie Ryder (British, born 1963)Lady-Hare with Dog signed and numbered 'Ryder/AC/2' (on the top of the base)bronze with a blue-green patina216 cm. (85 in.) highConceived in 1998, an Artist's Cast aside from the edition of 9Footnotes:ProvenanceThe Artist, from whom acquired bySir John Craven (1940-2022)LiteratureJonathan Bennington, Sophie Ryder, Lund Humphries in association with Berkeley Square Gallery, Aldershot and London, 2001, p.24, cat.no.12 (col.ill., another cast)'She feels right to me, as if she had always existed in myth and legend, like the minotaur'The hare, an animal enshrined in mystique as well as folklore, has been central to Sophie Ryder's output. The hare made its first appearance in her work from the early 1980s and by 1990 she defined the animal's sex as female by placing it next to the minotaur, a mythological creature who is half man and half bull. The Lady-Hare emerged in 1996 and comprised a female trunk with breasts, arms and legs, crowned by a hare's head. In explaining the development of the theme, the artist has commented: 'I came up with the idea for the Lady-Hare when trying to work on a half-human, half-animal subject to use with the Minotaur. The hare seemed to work so well with a female human body. To me the long ears represent a mane of hair, and somehow the whole figure just works, and is so familiar to me. There is no legend behind the Lady-Hare, of course, but plenty of myth about the Hare itself' (Sophie Ryder quoted in Jonathan Bennington, Sophie Ryder, Lund Humphries in association with Berkeley Square Gallery, Aldershot and London, 2001, p.18). Lady-Hare with Dog dates to 1998 and portrays the new relationship between a lurcher, an animal known for its ability as a hunter, and the hare who is traditionally the hunted. However, here the relationship is tender and reconciled as the pair tightly embrace in both physical and spiritual terms, the lurcher having submitted completely to the hare who offers comfort and understanding. As Jonathan Bennington has noted, Lady-Hare with Dog is evocative of Picasso's Shepherd carrying Lamb (1943). We are grateful to the artist for her assistance in cataloguing this lot.This lot is subject to the following lot symbols: AR TPAR Goods subject to Artists Resale Right Additional Premium.TP Lot will be moved to an offsite storage location (Cadogan Tate, Auction House Services, 241 Acton Lane, London NW10 7NP, UK) and will only be available for collection from this location at the date stated in the catalogue. Please note transfer and storage charges will apply to any lots not collected after 14 calendar days from the auction date.For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com
GIOVANNI BATTISTA PIRANESI (Mogliano Veneto, 1720 - Rome, 1778)."Avanzi di un antico Sepolcro, oggi detto la Conocchia, che si vede poco...".Etching engraving illuminated by hand.Size: 72 x 48 cm (print); 73 x 49 cm (paper); 102 x 79 cm (frame).Avanzi di un antico Sepolcro, oggi detto la Conocchia, che si vede poco lungi dalla Porta di Capua per andar a Napoli. Questo Sepolcro non si sà quant Famiglia abbia poputo appartenere; stante che gli e stata levata la sua antica Iscrizione.Piranesi first arrived in Rome in 1740, and there he found an established market for selling views of the city as souvenirs of the Grand Tour. His Views, however, transcended topographical fidelity and became heroic and tragic visions of the power of Roman architecture. Piranesi's Venetian origins were decisive in this particular representation of the city; his training as an engineer and builder in stone (in the poetic effect of the ruin, for example), and his apprenticeship as a set designer (sensitivity to the effects of light and great skill in linear and atmospheric perspectives). The plates were printed and sold in single sheets or in collections, initially through his publishers, Bouchar and Gravier. Piranesi went to the former's establishment every evening to see which views sold best and to listen to the comments of the customers. In 1760, however, the artist opened his own establishment, in the Palazzo Tomati, and from then on took control of the entire business, from printing to sales. Over the next two decades he produced a large body of work, and after his death in 1778 the business only increased. His son Francesco Piranesi expanded his father's series of 135 plates by two, and continued to sell in Rome until 1799, when he settled in Paris. Francesco sold the first Paris edition between 1800 and 1807, and after his death in 1810 the plates were acquired by the house of Firmin-Didot, which continued to publish them between 1835 and 1839. After the latter date they were acquired by what is now the Royal Chalcography in Rome.Piranesi was an Italian engraver who produced more than 2,000 engravings of real and imaginary buildings, as well as Roman statues and reliefs. He studied architecture in Venice with his uncle, Matteo Lucchesi, where he learned about the works of Palladio, Vitruvius and the buildings of antiquity. In 1740 he moved to Rome, accompanied by the Pope's envoy in Venice, Marco Foscarini. In the Italian capital he was impressed by the Roman ruins and focused on depicting them, combining descriptive zeal and fantasy in a style that advanced Romanticism by a hundred years. In Rome he learned the technique of etching, and in 1743 he published his first large series of prints, "Prima Parte di Architettura e Propettiva". At the age of just twenty-three Piranesi already revealed his mastery as an engraver and his inventiveness. He opened his workshop opposite the French Academy in Rome, so he was always in close contact with French artists and scholars. His engravings enjoyed great commercial success, as they were sold to travellers as souvenirs of the Eternal City. In 1761 he became a member of the Accademia di San Luca in Rome. Prints by Piranesi are preserved in the world's leading museums, including the Hermitage in St Petersburg, the Louvre, the Metropolitan Museum in New York, the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, the British Museum, and the Fine Arts Museums in Dallas, San Francisco, Detroit, Washington, Sydney and Montreal.
Spanish school; 18th century."Immaculate Conception".Oil on panel.It presents restorations.Measurements: 84 x 61 cm; 90 x 68 cm (frame).Devotional scene in which the figure of the Virgin Mary is presented as the Immaculate Conception. The piece follows the usual iconography attached to the theme, but presents a completely dynamic aesthetic, based on trompe l'oeil and a three-dimensional pictorial conception, which the author achieves through the highly marked shadows of the clouds. In addition, the fluid movement of the frame blends with the work in such a way that they form a whole, very much in the baroque style, although the tones used and the delicacy of the subject's face place us in the 18th century.Medieval Christianity passionately debated the belief that Mary had been conceived without the stain of original sin. Some universities and corporations swore to defend this privilege of the Mother of God, several centuries before the First Vatican Council defined the dogma of faith in 1854. At the end of the Middle Ages the need arose to give iconographic form to this idea, and the model of the Apocalyptic Woman of Saint John was taken, maintaining some elements and modifying others (the Apocalyptic Woman is pregnant, but not the Immaculate). The definitive image came to fruition in the 16th century, apparently in Spain. Following a Valencian tradition, the Jesuit Father Alberro had a vision of the Immaculate Conception and described it to the painter Juan de Juanes so that he could depict it as faithfully as possible. It is an evolved iconographic concept, sometimes associated with the theme of the Coronation of the Virgin. Mary is shown standing, dressed in a white tunic and blue cloak, her hands crossed on her chest, with the moon at her feet (in memory of Diana's chastity) and treading on the infernal serpent (symbol of her victory over Original Sin). Around his head, like a halo, he wears the twelve stars, symbolic of fullness and alluding to the twelve tribes of Israel. Most of these images are accompanied in the painting by the Marian symbols of the litanies and psalms, such as the mystical rose, the palm tree, the cypress, the enclosed garden, the ark of Faith, the gate of Heaven, the ivory tower, the sun and moon, the sealed fountain, the cedar of Lebanon, the spotless mirror, the morning star, and so on. In Baroque painting, the background is usually celestial and populated with angels, as 17th-century artists faithfully maintained the iconographic type but dispensed with the symbols of the litanies or reduced them, incorporating them into the composition in a naturalistic manner, and sought greater dynamism and a sense of theatricality.
SEBASTIÁN LLANOS VALDÉS (ca. 1605-1677)."Head of Saint Blaise.Oil on canvas.It conserves an 18th century Andalusian frame.Size: 38 x 46.5 cm; 44 x 53 cm (frame).In this scene of great dramatism, which follows the tenebrist heritage, as for the light expressiveness, the author only shows the face of an old man, with closed eyelids and on his right a knife. This iconographic attribute identifies the figure as Saint Paul. Paul was a Hellenised Jew from the Diaspora, born in Tarsus. He was therefore Jewish by ethnicity, Greek by culture and Roman by nationality. He received the name Saul, which he changed to Paul after his conversion. Born at the beginning of the first century, he studied in Jerusalem under the rabbi Gamaliel, who would have been noted for his hatred of Christians. One day, when he was on his way from Jerusalem to Damascus around the year 35, he was dazzled by lightning and fell from his horse. Then he heard the voice of Jesus saying to him: "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? As a result of this experience, the saint went abruptly from persecutor to zealot of Christianity. After curing the blindness of a Christian from Damascus, he began his life as a missionary until he reached Jerusalem, where he came into contact with Peter and the other apostles. In the Middle Ages numerous corporations were placed under his patronage, due to various aspects of his iconography, life and miracles. However, St. Paul was never a popular saint, which is proof of the relative poverty of his iconography. In fact, his role in art is not commensurate with his importance in the spread of Christianity. In early Christian art, his only attributes are a book or a scroll, and in the 13th century his emblem appears, the sword that was the instrument of his martyrdom.A Spanish Baroque painter, active in Seville and apparently a disciple of Francisco de Herrera the Elder, Sebastián de Llanos Valdés' style shows much influence from Francisco de Zurbarán. He is known to have been Mayor of the Painters' Guild in Seville in 1653 and is assumed (according to contemporary texts) to be well off. He also co-founded the San Lucas Academy of Drawing in 1660, together with Murillo and Herrera el Mozo. His work is preserved in Seville Cathedral, as well as monumental Evangelists in the Casa de Pilatos in the same city.
Ather Jamal (Pakistani, B. 1952)Untitled (Woman) signed and dated Ather '07 lower rightwatercolour on paper, framed35 x 25cm (13 3/4 x 9 13/16in).Footnotes:ProvenanceAcquired directly from the artist.Ather Jamal obtained his Diploma in Fine Arts from the University of Karachi in 1974 and had his first solo exhibition at Gallery Chawkandi Art, Karachi in 1987. He is an associate professor at Indus Valley School of Arts and his works have been exhibited at Interior Gallery, Islamabad, Clifton Art Gallery, Karachi, Indus Gallery, Karachi, Nomad Art Gallery, Islamabad and Ejaz Art Gallery, Lahore. In 1994 he participated in California's Pacific Asia Museum group show titled 'A Selection of Contemporary Paintings from Pakistan' and in the group exhibition of Pakistani Artists, titled '50 Years of Pakistan,' held in London. He is most well known for his 'Thar series' which depicts rural Pakistani women adorned with their resplendent jewellery and traditionally colourful clothes, examples of which can be seen in the two lots on offer in this auction. He also paints Karachi's cityscapes, including street vendors, busy shoppers and people moving through traffic. His work illustrating the history of Pakistan is displayed at the National Defence College, Islamabad, for which he was commissioned in 1998.For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com
Mansur Aye (Pakistani, 1941-2008)Untitled signed and dated Mansur Aye '05 lower leftoil on canvas, framed61 x 45.7cm (24 x 18in).Footnotes:ProvenanceAcquired from Eye from Art, Karachi in 2022.A self-taught painter, Aye had his first exhibition in Karachi in 1962 at the Karachi Arts Council. Known for his moon faced girls, as seen in the present lot, portraits of women, musicians and still life, he employed a diverse range of materials such as oils, acrylics, mixed media and pencil to create his images. His works are characterised by their simplicity and economy of lines.For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com
Sadequain (Pakistani, 1937-1987)The Holy Sinner: Karachi : Mohatta Palace Museum in collaboration with Unilever Pakistan, 2003. 46.5 x 28.5cm (18 5/16 x 11 1/4in).Edition of 1200; in slip caseFootnotes:Sadequain: The Holy Sinner was published to accompany a retrospective held in 2002-2003 that featured over two hundred of Sadequain's non-calligraphic works. It reflected the artist's existential preoccupations with human suffering underpinned by his famous notion of 'mystic figuration.' This catalogue is a first edition and was part of the numbered first edition of 1200 catalogues that were published for the exhibition.For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com
Jamil Naqsh (Pakistani, 1939-2019)Untitled (Pigeons) signed and dated Jamil Naqsh '63 lower centreoil on canvas, framed63 x 81.2cm (24 13/16 x 31 15/16in).Footnotes:ProvenanceAcquired by Mr Arif Ali Khan Abbasi from the artist; Mr Arif Ali Khan was the Chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board and Chairman of Pakistan International Airline;Acquired by the vendor from the above via Chawkandi Art Gallery, Karachi, Pakistan.AN IMPORTANT EARLY WORK DEPICTING PIGEONSThis work dating from 1963 is one of the earliest depictions of the subject in Naqsh's works. His very first painting on the subject from 1961 featured five birds, two in pairs and one by itself, which is similar compositionally to this work. Naqsh's pigeons are filled with meaning. They represent domestic harmony drawn from memories of his childhood in Kairana, India, where birds used to frequent his childhood home. They would fly in and out through open windows, strut around the courtyard and peck at the grains left for them. They also signify romantic love and are seen as messengers.Pigeons would become one of the key motifs that Naqsh would come to be known for, and one that he would depict repeatedly over the next 40 years. Unsurprisingly, this work was part of the first solo exhibition held for Naqsh in Karachi, Pakistan, in 1970 at Ali Imam's Indus Art Gallery. Whilst his works from the 1970s onwards would show the influence of cubism and abstraction, his early works were devoid of their impact. Instead, works such as the one in the present lot, from the 1960s illustrate his ability to use form, colour, texture and composition, and show the influence of miniature painting, which he studied. To see similar works from the period that were exhibited at Naqsh's Retrospective at Mohatta Palace, see, figures 18, 31 and 32 on pg.26, 37 and 38 respectively in Jamil Naqsh: A Retrospective.For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com
Sadanand K. Bakre (Indian, 1920-2007)Landscape inscribed Bakre 1962 in Devanagari lower right and signed and dated versooil on board, framed45.8 x 60cm (18 1/16 x 23 5/8in).Footnotes:CELEBRATING 75 YEARS OF THE PROGRESSIVE ARTISTSProvenancePrivate Collection UK; Acquired from a shop in Lancashire in the 90s.Note: There is a label on the reverse from Burton Gallery, Burton in Wirral, Cheshire which includes the artist's name, the title, medium, the name of the original collector and the date 30th November 1966. In addition, the artist has signed and dated the work in English and Devanagiri, and there is an address 19 Street Helens Garden, London, W.10. The size of the work 18 x 24 is also written, along with LAD 8434.Born in Baroda, Bakre was one of the six founders of the Bombay Progressive Artists' Group in 1947. He studied at the Gokhale Education Society School, where his talents were encouraged, and at the age of sixteen, he held his first solo exhibition at school, where he showcased his clay models of drapery, watercolour landscapes, still life and figurative works. He subsequently enrolled at the Sir J.J School of Art and received his Diploma in Sculpture in 1944. Always looking for new ways to express himself, he abandoned the medium in 1951 when he moved to London and turned his focus to paintings. The present work was created during the 60s, when Bakre's style evolved considerably. Often considered the most important period for his oeuvre, he moved away from academic realism to abstraction, and was influenced by the sculptors Henry Moore and Jacob Epstein and the jagged and repetitive style of the British Vorticists; they were a group formed in London in 1914 who wanted to create art that expressed the dynamism of the modern world. This period is characterised by the visual similarities between his paintings and sculptures and their bold geometric lines. He perhaps best describes this period himself 'I paint as I like... I am traditionally trained and perfectly capable of accomplishing completely realistic work. But my interest in forms has gone far beyond the dull imitations of subject matter, which to me is almost unimportant.' (S. Bakre, All Art Is Either Good or Bad, Free Press Bulletin, March 24, 1965). For a similar work sold in these rooms see, Bonhams, Modern and Contemporary South Asian Art, London, 25th October 2021, lot 46.For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com
B. Prabha (Indian, 1933-2001)Untitled (Village Scene) signed 'B Prabha' lower right, executed circa early 1950sink and gouache on paper, framed38.5 x 49.5cm (15 3/16 x 19 1/2in).Footnotes:ProvenanceAcquired from Sotheby's, Indian and Southeast Asian Art, New York, September 2004, lot 156Born in Bela, Nagpur Prabha commenced her training in art at the Nagpur School of Art, before moving to Bombay where she earned her diploma in Painting and Mural painting from the Sir J J School of Art. She is primarily known for her trademark works illustrating rural women in their milieu, and the two works on offer in this auction are early examples of this. She depicted women from various tribal communities and focussed on important details such as their skin colour, attire and jewellery. In both works the women appear to be from the same community. They are married as evidenced by their naths (nose rings), mangalsutras (marriage necklace), toe rings and payals (anklets) and they are engaged in their daily activities. Prabha's accomplishment lies in chronicling and elevating the lives of women at a time when opportunities afforded to them were few and far in between. Prabha exhibited widely over her nearly five-decade long career both nationally and internationally. The Nobel prize nominee for physics, Homi J. Bhaha bought three of her works during her first exhibition whilst she was still a student. Later, the airline Air India acquired her works to display and use as part of their collection, which included other notable contemporaries like M.F. Husain and V.S. Gaitonde. Posthumously, her works continue to be exhibited at galleries that include Aicon Gallery in New York and Gallery Beyond in Mumbai and are testament to her timelessness as an artist.This lot is subject to the following lot symbols: ** VAT on imported items at a preferential rate of 5% on Hammer Price and the prevailing rate on Buyer's Premium.For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com
Sheikh Mohammed Sultan (Bangladeshi, 1923-1994)Untitled signed 'S M Sultan' lower rightcolour pastel and charcoal on paper, framed26.5 x 35.3cm (10 7/16 x 13 7/8in).Footnotes:ProvenanceAcquired by the vendor from Ahmed Saeed Nagi's collection, which was inherited by his son; Nagi was a close friend of the artist.Ahmed Saeed Nagi was known as the 'official artist' of the Pakistan freedom movement, and was the first person to make a portrait of Quaid-e-Azam, Muhammad Ali Jinnah. He completed artwork at Governor House, Karachi, Governor House, Lahore and the Mohatta Palace, Karachi. In 1990 he was bestowed with the Pride of Performance Award by the Government of Pakistan, for his outstanding achievements as a painter.Sultan was born in Machimdia village, in what was then known as Jessore District, British India. He studied at the Government School of Art in Calcutta, where Mukul Dey, the pioneer of drypoint-etching in India was Principal. Under Dey's tutelage, students were encouraged to paint contemporary landscapes and portraits reflecting their own experiences, as opposed to painting Indian allegorical, mythological and historical subjects or copying the Old Masters.Sultan absorbed what he was taught and created a visual language that makes him of the pioneers of Bangladeshi modernism. He repeatedly depicted the same subject, village scenes and his trademark included illustrating peasants with exaggerated muscular physiques. The three works on offer in this auction are from the 1960s. In these works on paper, we see the beginnings of what is to come in his works in the 1970s and 1980s, with the slight exaggeration of the female bodies as seen in (Untitled Figures in a Landscape). To view other works on paper from this period, see Eye for Art, Sheikh Mohammad Sultan Exhibition: Works on Paper, 23rd March - 11th April 2022.This lot is subject to the following lot symbols: ** VAT on imported items at a preferential rate of 5% on Hammer Price and the prevailing rate on Buyer's Premium.For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com
Ahmed Parvez (Pakistani, 1926- 1979)Untitled (Metaphorical landscape) early 1960swatercolour and mixed media on paper, framed31.4 x 19.1cm (12 3/8 x 7 1/2in).Footnotes:CELEBRATING 70 YEARS OF THE LAHORE ART CIRCLEProvenanceAcquired from the artist.The three Metaphorical Landscapes offered in this auction were made during the period 1952-64 when Parvez first garnered critical acclaim. During this time, he held solo exhibitions at London's New Vision, Lincoln and Clement Stephens galleries, Commonwealth Institute and Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. The vendor's husband, was a close friend of the artist as evidenced by the photo dating from 31st December 1956 and the letter dating from 12th June 1966.For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com
Thota Vaikuntam (Indian, B. 1942)Untitled (Lady) signed and dated '03 in Telugu lower rightacrylic on canvas on board, framed58.7 x 43.5cm (23 1/8 x 17 1/8in).Footnotes:ProvenanceAcquired from the artist in 2006.There is a label on the reverse which includes the artist's name, the size and year of the work and the medium.Vaikuntam was born in Telangana (formerly Andhra Pradesh), and obtained a Diploma in Painting from the College of Fine Arts and Architecture in Hyderabad, and then pursued further studies in Painting and Printmaking under the tutelage of K.G. Subramanyan at the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda. His works are inspired by the rural women of Telangana, with whom he has had a lifelong fascination. This intrigue can be traced to the travelling theatre groups of his childhood, when the male artists would impersonate female characters. The muses in his works are voluptuous and sensuous and are adorned with ornaments, vermilion bindis and draped in colourful sarees of reds, saffrons, greens and blues, the latter of which can be seen in the present lot.Vaikuntam had his first solo exhibition in 1973, at the Kala Bhavan in Hyderabad and has gone on to exhibit worldwide since. Some notable shows include, 'The Telangana Icons' presented by Art Alive Gallery, New Delhi at Grosvenor Gallery, London in 2015, 'Post Independence Masters' at Aicon Gallery, New York in 2008, '6 Artists Show' at 1x1 Gallery, Dubai in 2006 and 'Tradition and Change' at Arts India, New York in 2002. He has also been the receipt of various awards, the 1993 National Award for Painting, being the most recent. For similar works sold in these rooms, see Modern and Contemporary South Asian Art, 24th May 2022, lot 24 and Islamic and Indian Art, 25th October 2007, lot 290.This lot is subject to the following lot symbols: ** VAT on imported items at a preferential rate of 5% on Hammer Price and the prevailing rate on Buyer's Premium.For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com
Vivan Sundaram (Indian, B. 1943)Untitled (Composition) signed and dated 'Vivan August '91 lower rightengine oil and charcoal on paper, framed55.3 x 74.8cm (21 3/4 x 29 7/16in).Footnotes:ProvenanceAcquired directly from the artist in 1991/1992.Note: This work is on the artist's website under his 'Engine Oil and Charcoal drawings' series.Born in Shimla in 1943, Sundaram studied painting at both Maharaja Sayajirao University, Baroda (1961-65) under KG Subramanyan and at the Slade School of Art, London (1966-69). At the latter, he also studied the History of Cinema. Sundaram's career has spanned decades and he is known for being India's first installation artist. He works across mediums and scales and addresses issues pertaining to politics, familial and societal history and memorialisation. His early works embodied geometric abstraction and included elements of kitsch and pop art and his enduring interest in cinema led him to incorporating principles of collage/montage. It was in the 1990s however that he began working with unconventional materials, in response to the Gulf War (1990-1991) and created his 'Engine oil and charcoal on paper' series. The work in the present lot is from this series. In it he contrasts charcoal smudges with burnt oil to explore materiality and surface. This series marks a turning point in his career as it proves to be the catalyst for him to start working with photography, video art and installation; the Gulf War was the first televised war and clearly impacted him.His retrospective, 'Step inside and you are no longer a stranger' was held at KNMA, New Delhi in 2018, and featured works from 50 years of his career. He has exhibited his works at numerous shows worldwide including those in London, Paris, Amsterdam, Budapest, Copenhagen, New York, Dallas, Montreal and Vancouver and in the Biennales of Taipei, Shanghai, Sharjah, Sydney, Berlin, Havana and Johannesburg. He is the founding member of the Kasauli Art Centre, the Safdar Hasmi Memorial Trust (SAHMAT) and the Journal of Arts & Ideas, and is the editor of the 2010 two volume book on his maternal aunt, Amrita Sher-Gil, titled Amrita Sher-Gil: a self-portrait in letters & writings.This lot is subject to the following lot symbols: ** VAT on imported items at a preferential rate of 5% on Hammer Price and the prevailing rate on Buyer's Premium.For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com
Md Tokon (American-Bangladeshi, B.1980)Moonlight Lilies signed and dated 2021 versoacrylic on canvas, framed146.2 x 126cm (57 9/16 x 49 5/8in).Footnotes:Md Tokon spent the first half of his life in Bangladesh before relocating to the USA, where he completed his Bachelor of Fine Arts from the City University of New York (2002-2006) and simultaneously enrolled at the Art Students League of New York (2005-2010). Noted alumni from the latter include Cy Twombly and Mark Rothko. Rothko's and the New York abstract expressionist's influence is evident in Md Tokon's works however Tokon's works also incorporate elements of Impressionism and Romanticism, as his works are predicated on colour, space, dark and light. The colours and themes employed in his works are a tribute to both the tonalities of Bangladesh and the long tradition of abstract art emanating from the country, specifically that of Mohammad Kibria.Tokon favours large canvasses, dramatic colour and loose brushwork, as evidenced by the 2 lots on offer in this auction. He has been part of numerous solo and group exhibitions in New York, Chicago and Dhaka, and he is the recipient of the 2010 Richard Lillis Memorial Scholarship.'His paintings are direct; they do not hesitate. The paintings deliver their message reflecting nature, emotion, and passion; with intense aesthetic expression, through surface and color.' (Ronnie Landfield, New York)This lot is subject to the following lot symbols: ** VAT on imported items at a preferential rate of 5% on Hammer Price and the prevailing rate on Buyer's Premium.For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com
Liaqat Rasul (British, B.1974)Envelop industrial plastic sheeting, cardboard, chunky felt tips, staples, tissue paper, wooden coffee stirrers, nylon net, staples, polypropylene plastic strapping, printed silk khadi, old shirt fabric, leather, grey board, packaging card, receipts, biro, rizzla paper, framed99 x 78.5cm (39 x 30 7/8in).Footnotes:ProvenanceThe Artist's Collection.Liaqat Rasul is a gay welsh dyslexic Pakistani male. He was born in Feb 1974 in Wrexham, North Wales. Liaqat studied fashion, gaining a first-class degree, specialising in textiles. He spent a year in industry, working and studying in New Delhi, India. Liberty's in Regent Street, London, bought his graduating collection, and he ran the business Ghulam Sakina for ten years, creating beautiful textile clothing. After Ghulam Sakina was liquidated in 2009, Liaqat decided to explore his life and career choices. He worked at the Roxy Beaujolais -run pub the Seven Stars, in Carey Street, while exploring art exhibitions and public art. A huge, heavy penny dropped in 2017, and Liaqat started making collages for friends. Small but vital art practice was initiated. Liaqat made a few pieces for commission, and in 2019 had his first-ever solo exhibition of eight pieces at the Tracey Neuls shop in Coal Drops Yard, London. The collage works are not a social or political statement; they are abstract and cartographic, made from old envelopes, stamped tickets, wooden coffee stirrers, misplaced printing on cardboard boxes, leftover yarn, swing tags, creased tissue papers, napkins, abandoned receipts, an old t-shirt chopped up, tatty found papers, packaging... marked with biros and felt-tip pens and stuck with PVA glue, sellotape on to card inserts and graphics on cardboard boxes left out in the street. Their bold, odd colours and real-world experiences create unique, buoyant collage tableaux.Making art is an act of hope. Liaqat invites the viewer to experience his low-tech, textured works, eyes darting about to take in the many elements, in their own time, meditatively, diverted from smartphones and the persistent digital world. Liaqat aims to create bigger and bolder collages and fibre works. Think tactile. Think analogue.He has been commissioned by Ty Pawb, Wrexham in North Wales, his place of birth to have his first solo exhibition in June 2024, which will then be on tour from Autumn 2024. He was part of the group show at Grosvenor Gallery, 'Patterns of the Past: Weaving Heritage in Pakistani Art' in the Summer of 2021, which was held in collaboration with Canvas Gallery, Karachi. The Crafts Council acquired a 3.5m tall portrait mobile and he has also been commissioned to work on a project with the elderly South Asian community in Gloucester, focussing on the migrant journey from Sri Lanka, India, Bangladesh and Pakistan.For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com
Maqbool Fida Husain (Indian, 1915-2011)Mother-V printed Chinese signature upper left and signed and edition 16/100 versohand painted in silk screen203.5 x 101.5cm (80 1/8 x 39 15/16in).Footnotes:CELEBRATING 75 YEARS OF THE PROGRESSIVE ARTISTSProvenanceArcher Graphic Studio, Ahmedabad. These works come from Husain's Chinese scroll series that he created between 2005-2009. They are a set of 29 large-scale serigraphs featuring two of his iconic themes, Mother Teresa and horses. Husain painted them, after which they were developed into silkscreens and were mounted onto black scrolls so that they could be hung like traditional Asian paintings. The series which included 18 and 11 prints of Mother Teresa and horses respectively, debuted as a complete collection in an exhibition that travelled to Dubai, Singapore, Beijing and Shanghai.In this series, Husain is paying homage to both East Asian artists and Mother Teresa. It was in 1952 that Husain visited China and was struck by ancient Chinese pottery and paintings, in particular that of the Sung dynasty renderings of horses and by the works of Xu Beihong. The dramatic monochromatic lines had the deftness of certainty yet also the fluidity of motion. Husain remained fascinated with the subject throughout his life, his early encounter with a horse being in his childhood when he saw the procession to mourn and commemorate the Prophet's grandson, Husayn ibn Ali, when an effigy of Husayn ibn Ali's horse was carried through the streets. As Husain has best surmised 'My horses, like lightening, cut across many horizons, hop across spaces, from the battlefield of Kerbala to Bankura terracotta, from the Chinese Tse Pei Hung horse to St Marco's horse, from the ornate armoured Duldul to the challenging white of Ashvamedha...the cavalcade of my horse is multidimensional.' (M.F Husain, 1987)Husain's first encounter with Mother Teresa was in 1979, when he met her at Delhi airport. She left a deep impression on him and become one of his most famous protagonists. The theme of motherhood was close to Husain's heart having felt the absence of his own mother, who died whilst he was an infant. Mother Teresa therefore represents ideal motherhood, nourishment, empathy and strength, however she is always painted without a face, as if to represent all mothers. The children are often seen clinging to her arms and clothes, a closeness that Husain wished he had with his own mother.This lot is subject to the following lot symbols: ** VAT on imported items at a preferential rate of 5% on Hammer Price and the prevailing rate on Buyer's Premium.For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com
Sayed Haider Raza (Indian, 1922-2016)Les Rochers signed and dated 'Raza 69' lower centre, further signed, dated, titled and inscribed Raza/P_782 '69/Les Rochers/10F and 'SHR-26' verso and 'YK520 CIN' on the stretcheroil on canvas54.7 x 46cm (21 9/16 x 18 1/8in).Footnotes:CELEBRATING SAYED HAIDER RAZA'S BIRTH CENTENARY AND 75 YEARS OF THE PROGRESSIVE ARTISTSProvenanceAcquired by the owner from Galerie Lara Vincy, Paris (acquired directly from the artist;Private Collection, France (acquired from the above)Christies, South Asian Modern & Contemporary Art,11th June 2012, lot 55.Acquired by the current owner from the above.LiteratureAnne Macklin (ed.), SH Raza, Catlogue Raisonné 1958-1971 (Volume I), Vadehra Art Gallery & he Raza Foundation, New Delhi, 2016, p. 173 (illustrated)A fascinating aspect of Raza's long career lies in how he evolved at least three different modes of abstraction – and their particular reflection on his own life and experiences.At the time of painting these small works, Raza was going through one of the most significant periods of his painterly career. His stint at the JJ school, the early years in Paris and his exposure the life of an artist in post war Europe was already behind him. This phase may well have started during the early 1960s, when he travelled to the University of California at Berkeley from France and experienced for the first time the works of Sam Francis, Mark Rothko and other leading American abstract expressionists, who lent their work the primacy of colour. Completely devoid of any structure, allowing for a fluid evocation of emotion, their work led Raza to move dramatically beyond the School of Paris influences that he had hitherto been exposed to. As he allowed himself greater painterly freedom in the unfolding decade of the sixties, Raza's work was to become more gestural, the brushwork looser, and the painterly affect that he sought more emotive. Yet nothing about this confluence of impressions was simple or direct. An artist of his time who responded spontaneously to the great wave of abstraction that swept the West in the 1950s and 60s, Raza also had nurtured a slew of memories that tied him inextricably with his homeland. As he describes it, the dense forests surrounding Mandla, a district in Madhya Pradesh where his father served as a forest officer were an overwhelming memory, of a sensorium of sounds, shadow and movement, unknown and mysterious to the young child. The weight of the night as it descended on the forest – innocent of electricity, as the villagers returned to their homes - was occasionally broken by the dances and singing of the Gond tribals by firelight, which etched deeply on his impressionable mind. Years later, as he engaged with a more liberated, and spontaneous mode of painting, Raza reverted to that childhood memory, making his works rich with an inchoate movement, and the irrepressible pulsation of life. There was also the memory of Kashmir, which Raza visited in 1947, its rich explosion of colours and its landscape, the subject of a wealth of miniature paintings.Les Rochers (1969)The two small paintings on view cohere in terms of Raza's treatment; whether these are preparatory works for larger canvases or complete in themselves, they bear the dynamism and energy of this phase. In the earlier work titled Les Rochers (1969) Raza allows a heavy overhang of darkness to seemingly merge with the large rock like forms, making one indistinguishable from the other. The sense of a looming darkness, kindled by embers of colour that seem to rise at the base of the work suggests the deepening of shadow over the landscape, like the closing in of the night.About this time Raza was to make a series of works drawing upon the rich tones of Rajasthani paintings – red, black, white and yellow—which not only drew from the burning sands of the Malwa region and the blazing sun of the desert but the passionate music of Rajputana, and the rich symbolism of Tantric painting. Here we have the first inklings of the Bhanu mandala, or the form of the blazing sun – black, or red, and its associative form, the bindu, in paintings like Terre Rouge (1968). There is also the preoccupation with darkness, the pitch black of the night which will be fractured or broken through with shards of colour, in paintings like Les Rocher (1969) and La Nuit (1971). It is remarkable that Raza's paintings, devoid of all living forms – other than the Naga, or the cosmic serpent which wraps around the circumference of the earth, invoke life through the sheer vitality of colour.What the energy and spirit of these works indicate is Raza's exploration of primordial elements that appear to mark the beginnings of creation. The first few verses of the Rig Veda (c.1750 BE) are dedicated to the five elements that imbue the life force. On the earth -to-sky painted surface, even in the smallest works, he engages the power and mystery of the elements, drawing them into a great, cosmic churn. Indian art had never dedicated itself entirely to the landscape, and Raza stands like a solitary figure, closer to the Romantic poets of the 18th and 19th centuries, to Rilke and Lawrence in the sweeping agonistes that he draws from nature.The GroundMind you are, ether you areAir you are, fire you areWater you are, Earth you areAnd you are the Universe, mother...Saundaryalahiri verse 28It is against this background, of a vibrant evocation of the primal forces of wind, ether, fire and water, that the question of the ground arises. On what premise, both conceptual and artistic, is Raza grounding his work? While the paintings of the late 1960s and 70s fall under the broad rubric of the landscape, there is very little of the recognizable elements of nature on view. Instead, Raza seems to depend entirely on the energy of his brush strokes, and the sheer magic of colour to invoke a sensorial effect, of the seasons and the intensity of an Indian summer. It is in the churning, and the unexpected appearance of the circle, the square or a suggestion of a triangle in such works, that Raza is also preparing the ground for another mode of abstraction. This would lead him further into a recessed visual space, not to the Vedic pronouncement on the Panchamahabhutas or primal elements, but to the yantra, and its geometric symbolism. Codified by Adi Shankara in the Saundaryalahiri,(c 8th century) the geometry of the yantra is loaded with the signification of life giving energies. In secularizing them into a highly evolved geometric abstraction, Raza creates a unique language, which abandons concepts of time and space to create their own ground – of metaphysical reading perhaps, but also sheer visual pleasure.This lot is subject to the following lot symbols: ** VAT on imported items at a preferential rate of 5% on Hammer Price and the prevailing rate on Buyer's Premium.For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com
Madhvi Parekh (Indian, B. 1942)Last Supper signed and dated in Devanagiri 'Madhvi 2011' lower right and edition 20/60reverse serigraph in 17 colours on acrylic, framed181 x 100cm (71 1/4 x 39 3/8in).image size (in) 40 x 72Footnotes:ProvenanceArcher Graphic Studio, Ahmedabad.Often described as a 'folk' artist, Madhvi Parekh is recognised as a master and one of the most influential Modernist artists not only in South Asia, but also globally. Born in the village of Sanjaya, India in 1942, her journey in the art world began in the early 1960s, inspired by the work of her husband, Manu Parekh (B.1939), also a painter. The fact that she received her education during her first pregnancy deeply influenced her approach to the canvas. Her focus lies on the process of creation, rather than the result, which cannot be foreseen or known beforehand. Hence, her starting point is an idea, or better a feeling. She paints what she feels, without paying too much attention to critics and subsequent discussions of her work. Parekh creates art because she is drawn to it, regardless the external comments, the result, or the fame. It is the need to express herself, her story, and traditions.Undoubtedly, her personal background is visible in the subjects of her works, which often depicts the life in her village, festivities, and traditions, often through the perspective of a child. therefore, painting represents a sort of reminiscing and meditative process, where the artist's memories and the feelings she experienced during her childhood come to life. Her style represents the apparent simplicity of youth. Usually compared with Paul Klee (1879-1940) and Joan Miró (1893-1983), her technique consists of an instinctive and creative use of simple lines and shapes, such as triangles and squares. Parekh succeeds in combining flat surfaces, pictorial decorative elements of Indian art tradition together with a modern deconstruction of the forms and of the subject matter. Parekh unmistakable style jumps out of the canvas in her version of The Last Supper (2011). Her work represents an intelligent and original appropriation of Christianity most celebrated event, reinterpreted through a laic and modernist sensibility. Parekh's painting refers to Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) homonymous work painted between 1495-1498. The basic structure of da Vinci's work is maintained. Even the apostles appear in the same poses and order. The composition of the background is also preserved, with the three windows that open on a generic city landscape. However, the lack of perspective and the reduced pictorial depth, the flat surface, and the geometric forms of the figures typical of Parekh and modernist style debunk the divine aura of the subject. In fact, although the iconography of this subject matter is universally known and recognisable, it is not part of Parekh's tradition. The fact that the artist does not identify herself as a Christian, together with Parekh's style turns this classic and sacred motif into a secular tale of friendship and betrayal, themes that are shared in many myths and legends across the globe. In this work, the artist succeeds in synthesizing cultural differences, shared topics, and her own responses to da Vinci's work in primis, and to this alien tradition.This lot is subject to the following lot symbols: ** VAT on imported items at a preferential rate of 5% on Hammer Price and the prevailing rate on Buyer's Premium.For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com
Ashok Bhowmick (Indian, B. 1953)Untitled (Lady with bird) signed and dated Ashok '03 lower rightmixed media on card, framed49.3 x 39.5cm (19 7/16 x 15 9/16in).Footnotes:ProvenanceAcquired from the late Mrs Sunita Jain in 2004, a friend of the vendor who acquired the work from the artist.Ashok Bhowmick is known for his cross-hatching Cubist technique as seen in the two works on offer in this auction. He has been painting since the mid 1970s, and has participated in group shows in India, Pakistan, Dubai, Barcelona, Sydney and New York. Earlier this year in June and July 2022, Bhowmick had his first major solo show in New Delhi in over 20 years, at India's oldest Gallery, Dhoomimal, titled 'Made in the Shade,' which included works from the last four decades of his career. The work titled, Bird seller 2, from that show resembles the work in this lot. (Gallerie Splash, Made in the Shade, 2022, pp. 69.)For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com
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