Roseberys London
Lot 181
Margaret Mellis, Scottish 1914-2009 - Small White Relief, 1970; painted wooden relief, signed, titled and dated on the reverse 'Margaret Mellis White Relief Nov 1970' and with hand-numbered artist's stamp 'M Mellis 7.0762', 37.8 x 37.7 cm (ARR) Provenance: with Austin Desmond Gallery, London; private collection Exhibited: Piers Art Centre, Orkney, 'Margaret Mellis: Constructions, Paintings, Reliefs', 8th May - 10th June 1982 (according to the label attached to the reverse, which states the date of the work as 1971) Note: Margaret Mellis was a pioneer of abstraction from the 1940s in Britain, creating a highly innovative body of work that pushed the boundaries between painting and sculpture, always utilising a unique approach to colour. In the present work from the 1970s, the artist plays with light and shadow, in her use of relief and brilliant white. While artists as diverse as Mary Martin and Ben Nicholson were exploring similar techniques during the same period, through her distinct curved forms Mellis managed create a distinctly sensitive response to abstraction. Mellis played an important role in the history of Modernism in St. Ives during the Second World War, her home with first husband Adrian Stokes providing a focal point for artists including Naum Gabo, Barbara Hepworth and Wilhelmina Barns-Graham. Mellis has been subject to major museum shows across the UK, including at City Art Centre, Edinburgh in 1997, the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, Norwich in 2008 and more recently at Towner Art Gallery, Eastbourne in 2022.
