Ca. 1368-1644 AD or later . A glazed terracotta mingqi depicting a standing attendant on a tiered, integral base. He is portrayed in a noble and dignified manner, with an upright posture and an expression of calm composure. The gentle contours of the figure's face, including the high cheekbones, a prominent nose, and small lips, are carefully crafted with fine details such as the almond-shaped eyes, and the delicately arched eyebrows. The figure is dressed in a long, flowing navy-glazed robe with contrasting accents on the sides, which are painted in red. The robe is tied with a sash of pale blue color, which enhances the elegance of the ensemble. The figure's both hands are clenched. Mingqi, or "spirit objects," were created to be buried with the deceased and were believed to accompany the soul into the afterlife. These objects were often crafted with great attention to detail and were intended to represent the various aspects of life that would be important in the afterworld. Cf. Christie's Live Auction 5564, Asian Art, 15 September 2005, Lot 407.Size: L:190mm / W:50mm ; 260gProvenance: East Anglian private collection; formerly acquired in the early 1990s in Hong Kong.
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Ca. 300 AD. A carnelian intaglio with captivating beauty features a mesmerizing mermaid in a full sea with calm, accentuated waves. Above three eight-pointed stars. The mermaid, with arms outstretched and facing right, is adorned with a stunning radiating headpiece. The mermaid, a mythical creature of the sea, is a symbol of freedom, grace, and beauty, and embodies the spirit of exploration and adventure. Intaglios were small, intricate carvings made from precious gemstones, such as carnelian, and were often used as seals or amulets. They were highly prized for their exquisite designs and intricate symbolism, which often depicted mythological figures, animals, or scenes from daily life.Size: L:13.4mm / W:15mm ; 0.9gProvenance: Private London collection, UK art market before 2000.
Karl Hagemeister 1848 Werder a. d. Havel - 1933 Werder a. d. Havel Auffliegender Graureiher am Havelufer. Um 1892. Öl auf Leinwand. Warmt G 278. Links unten signiert. Verso auf dem Keilrahmen mit altem fragmentiertem Etikett sowie verschiedentlich handschriftlich nummeriert. 75 x 120 cm (29,5 x 47,2 in). PROVENIENZ: Privatsammlung Norddeutschland. 'Wenn ich in die Natur hinausgehe, und es sei auch an eine Stelle, die ich ganz genau kenne, so bin ich gar nicht imstande, mich sofort hinzusetzen und zu malen. Ich muss vielmehr immer erst längere Zeit still die Umgebung auf mich wirken lassen und mich ganz mit der Stimmung durchsättigen, die aus der gegenwärtigen atmosphärischen Verfassung sich um mich ausbreitet. Wenn ich dann den Grundton eingesogen habe, so bringe ich ihn als beherrschenden Farbakkord auf die Leinwand.“ Karl Hagemeister, über seine Gemälde, zit. nach: Hendrikje Warmt, Karl Hagemeister, Berlin 2016, S. 29 Aufrufzeit: 10.06.2023 - ca. 18.16 h +/- 20 Min. Dieses Objekt wird regel- oder differenzbesteuert angeboten.ENGLISH VERSIONKarl Hagemeister 1848 Werder a. d. Havel - 1933 Werder a. d. Havel Auffliegender Graureiher am Havelufer. Um 1892. Oil on canvas. Warmt G 278. Lower left signed. With old, fragmentarily preserved labels on the reverse, as well as with different hand-written numbers. 75 x 120 cm (29.5 x 47.2 in). PROVENANCE: Private collection Northern Germany. 'When I go out into nature, even if it's to a place that I know very well, I'm not able to sit down and paint right away. I always have to let the surroundings sink in quietly for a long time and saturate myself with the spirit I get from the surroundings. Then, having absorbed the keynote, I bring it to the canvas as a dominant color chord.' Karl Hagemeister, about his paintings, quoted from: Hendrikje Warmt, Karl Hagemeister, Berlin 2016, p. 29 Called up: June 10, 2023 - ca. 18.16 h +/- 20 min. This lot can be purchased subject to differential or regular taxation.
Philipp Klein 1871 Mannheim - 1907 Hornegg/Neckar Aktstudie I. 1907. Öl auf Malpappe. Hofkamp PK009. Rechts oben signiert und datiert. Verso mit div. alten Etiketten, handschriftlich und typografisch nummeriert und bezeichnet. 60 x 45 cm (23,6 x 17,7 in). PROVENIENZ: Nachlass des Künstlers. Privatsammlung Süddeutschland (seit 1979 in Familienbesitz. AUSSTELLUNG: Leipziger Kunstverein (verso mit dem fragmentarischen Etikett). Kollektionen Ulrich Hübner, Philipp Klein, Emil Potter, Emil Rudolf Weiss, Kunstsalon Paul Cassirer, Berlin, 15.4.-7.5.1908. Nachlass-Ausstellung Philipp Klein, Mannheimer Kunstverein, Mannheim, März-April 1909, Nr. 3. Nachlass-Ausstellung Philipp Klein, Kölnischer Kunstverein, Köln 1909. Aquarelle, Handzeichnungen und Holzskulpturen erster Meister: darunter der künstlerische Nachlaß von Philipp Klein-München, Kunsthalle P.H. Beyer & Sohn, Leipzig, Nov. 1912, Nr. 2. LITERATUR: Katalog der Versteigerung einer Sammlung moderner Ölgemälde, Aquarelle, Handzeichnungen und Holzskulpturen erster Meister: darunter der künstlerische Nachlaß von Philipp Klein-München, P. H. Beyer & Sohn, Leipzig, 1.11.1912, Nr. 13 [?]. Philipp Klein gehört zu den Künstlern impressionistischer Prägung, die am Ende des 19. Jahrhunderts für Aufbruchsstimmung im deutschen Kunstbetrieb sorgen. 1892 kommt Klein in die Kunststadt München und beginnt zunächst autodidaktisch zu malen, genährt durch den Austausch mit Künstlerkollegen wie Max Slevogt und Lovis Corinth. Als Privatschüler von Josef Wopfner hält er sich mit diesem am Chiemsee und im Voralpenland auf, reist in die Künstlerkolonien nach Dachau und Worpswede. Interessiert an vom akademischen Ausbildungs- und Ausstellungssystem unabhängigen Kunstschaffen orientiert er sich an der Künstlergruppe 'Die Scholle' um Leo Putz. Wie Putz ist auch Klein an dem Motiv der Frau in der Landschaft fasziniert und erreicht mit solchen Sujets erste Erfolge auf den Münchner und Berliner Jahresausstellungen. 1903 begibt auch er sich nach Berlin wo er sich an den Ausstellungen der Secession beteiligt. In der für die Etablierung der Moderne so zentralen Galerie Paul Cassirers ist er eine feste Größe im Programm. Seine verheißungsvolle Karriere wird durch seinen frühen Tod im Frühjahr 1907 jedoch jäh beendet. Charakteristisch für seine Gemälde ist der frei-bewegte Duktus sowie die pastellene, hellfarbige Palette, die besonders den Frauendarstellungen ihre zarte Sinnlichkeit verleiht. Gerade aufgrund der breiten Strichführung ergibt sich eine volumenhafte Plastizität, die sich auch im oftmals pastosen Farbauftrag widerspiegelt. Der nonchalante Charakter in der Ausführung, zwischen spontaner, freier Studie eines Modells im Atelier des Künstlers, die in ihrer scheinbaren Unfertigkeit dennoch als Gemälde überzeugt, macht hier den besonderen Reiz aus. [KT] Aufrufzeit: 10.06.2023 - ca. 18.30 h +/- 20 Min. Dieses Objekt wird regel- oder differenzbesteuert angeboten.ENGLISH VERSIONPhilipp Klein 1871 Mannheim - 1907 Hornegg/Neckar Aktstudie I. 1907. Oil on cardboard. Hofkamp PK009. Signed and dated in upper right. With several old labels with hand-written and typographic numbers and inscriptions on the reverse. 60 x 45 cm (23.6 x 17.7 in). PROVENANCE: From the artist's estate. Private collectino Southern Germany (family-owned since 1979). EXHIBITION: Leipziger Kunstverein (with a fragmentarily preserved label on the reverse). Kollektionen Ulrich Hübner, Philipp Klein, Emil Potter, Emil Rudolf Weiss, Kunstsalon Paul Cassirer, Berlin, April 15 - May 7, 1908. Nachlass-Ausstellung Philipp Klein, Mannheimer Kunstverein, Mannheim, March - April 1909, no. 3. Nachlass-Ausstellung Philipp Klein, Kölnischer Kunstverein, Cologne 1909. Aquarelle, Handzeichnungen und Holzskulpturen erster Meister: darunter der künstlerische Nachlaß von Philipp Klein-München, Kunsthalle P.H. Beyer & Sohn, Leipzig, Nov. 1912, no. 2. LITERATURE: Katalog der Versteigerung einer Sammlung moderner Ölgemälde, Aquarelle, Handzeichnungen und Holzskulpturen erster Meister: darunter der künstlerische Nachlaß von Philipp Klein-München, P. H. Beyer & Sohn, Leipzig, November 1, 1912, no. 13 [?]. Philipp Klein is one of the artists with an impressionist influence who created a spirit of optimism in the German art world at the end of the 19th century. In 1892, Klein came to Munich, the then German art capital, and began to paint as an autodidact, nurtured by exchanges with artist colleagues such as Max Slevogt and Lovis Corinth. As a private student of Josef Wopfner, he stayed with him at Lake Chiemsee and in the foothills of the Alps, and also traveled to the artist colonies in Dachau and Worpswede. Interested in creating an art that was independent from the academic training and the exhibition system, he found a home with the artist group 'Die Scholle' around Leo Putz. Like Putz, Klein was also fascinated by the motif of the woman in the landscape and achieved initial success with such subjects at the annual exhibitions in Munich and Berlin. In 1903, he also went to Berlin, where he took part in the Secession’s exhibitions. He was a regular in the program of Galerie Paul Cassirer, which was so important for the development of modern art in Germany. However, his promising career came to an abrupt end when he died early in 1907. Characteristic of his paintings is the freely moving style and the pastel, light-colored palette, which gives the depictions of women their delicate sensuality. Precisely because of the broad strokes, there is a voluminous plasticity, which is also reflected in the often impasto application of paint. The casual execution makes for the special appeal of the present work. [KT] Called up: June 10, 2023 - ca. 18.30 h +/- 20 min. This lot can be purchased subject to differential or regular taxation.
Caithness Glass paperweights, limited editions to include Mercury, Autumn Leaves, Journey's End, Elements II, Total Eclipse, Moonscape, Ready Steady Go, Adventure, Free Spirit, all by Colin Terris, Home Coming, Tawny Owl, Shooting Star, Alpine Winter by Alastair Macintosh and Glacier by Macintosh and Helen MacDonald, Harvest Time & Queens Coronation by Helen Macdonald, Moonlight Blossom by Philip chaplain and Queen elizabeth 2 - the end of an era by Sarah Peterson, (18)
Arthur Perigal R.S.A. (1816-1884), Oil Painting. on Canvas Signed (lower left) Image Size: 16 by 24 in. (40.6 by 60.9cm.) All measurements are approximate. Arthur Perigal R. S. A. (1816-1884) was a British painter known for his landscape and genre paintings. He was born in London, England and studied art at the Royal Academy Schools. Perigal's paintings often depicted landscapes, seascapes, and scenes of rural life. He was a member of the Royal Scottish Academy and exhibited regularly in Edinburgh and London. Perigal's work was highly regarded for his use of light and color to create atmospheric effects, and his ability to capture the mood and spirit of his subjects. He died in Edinburgh in 1884, leaving behind a legacy as one of Scotland's foremost landscape painters. WE DO NOT GIVE ANY REPRESENTATION, WARRANTY, OR GUARANTEE OR ASSUME ANY LIABILITY OF ANY KIND IN RESPECT OF ANY LOT WITH REGARD TO MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, DESCRIPTION, SIZE, QUALITY, CONDITION, ATTRIBUTION, AUTHENTICITY, RARITY, IMPORTANCE, MEDIUM, PROVENANCE, EXHIBITION HISTORY, LITERATURE, OR HISTORICAL RELEVANCE.
Terence Cuneo (British 1907-1996) - The Spirit of Brooklands - limited edition coloured print 104/850, signed in pencil by the artist and drivers, framed & glazed, 63 by 49cms.Condition ReportPrint is in good condition with no damage, fading or marks to it, the frame and glass have dirty marks to them, otherwise good condition
§ JOAN EARDLEY R.S.A. (SCOTTISH 1921-1963) THE BLUE PINAFORE Signed, pastelDimensions:14.5cm x 10cm (5.75in x 4in)Provenance:Provenance:Acquired in 1955 from The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh and thence by descent to the Executors of the Late Mrs Anne WalkerNote: Note: The Townhead district of Glasgow and the fishing village of Catterline, on the north-east coast of Scotland, provided the locations and communities which inspired much of Joan Eardley’s oeuvre, revealing her deep sense of place and people in works which have secured her a leading place in British art history.As Fiona Pearson has explained:Eardley was a strong, passionate painter who was totally engaged in depicting the life forces around her, everything from children to nature…Eardley’s deep love of humanity was manifest in images of the resilience of the human spirit among the poor, the old and the very young…[She reminds…] Scots of lost tenement communities and the wild natural beauty of the landscape. (Fiona Pearson, Joan Eardley, National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh, 2007, pp.8-9)In 1953 Eardley moved into a studio at 204 St James Road in Townhead, above a scrap-metal merchant’s premises. The area was of mixed residential and light industrial use, was rundown and overcrowded, yet she was drawn to its vibrancy, declaring:I like the friendliness of the back streets. Life is at its most uninhibited here. Dilapidation is often more interesting to a painter as is anything that has been used and lived with – whether it be an ivy-covered cottage, a broken farm-cart or an old tenement. (As quoted in Patrick Elliott and Anne Galastro, Joan Eardley: A Sense of Place, National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh, 2016, p.14).Eardley became a familiar figure sketching and photographing in the streets, drawn to the games and squabbles of the neighbourhood’s children and to evidence of lives lived in and amongst its decaying architecture. She worked spontaneously, at speed and often on the modest scale afforded by pocket sketchbooks, using larger sheets, chalks and pastels when developing imagery on return to her studio.Works such as Children Playing Marbles (Lot 166) show how Eardley instinctively empathised with childhood emotions, as a group of youngsters are absorbed in the drama of a competitive game. In The Blue Pinafore (Lot 167) a child is caught in moment of contemplation. Her facial expression is depicted with tenderness and her unselfconscious pose speaks of innocence, whilst the thick application of pastel – sometimes highly coloured – signifies form and the artist’s energetic technique.As Eardley became known in Townhead, so her natural rapport with the local children developed and some came to her studio to sit for her. She recalled:Most of them I get on with…some interest me much more as characters…they don’t need much encouragement: they don’t pose…they are completely uninhibited and they just behave as they would among themselves…They just let out all their life and energy they haven’t been able to at school. (As quoted in Elliott and Galastro, op.cit., p.48)The studio works could be more considered, as seen in Studies of Amanda (Lot 174) and Portrait Study (Lot 173). Boy with Blue Trousers (Lot 172) shows the ease at which she put her sitters, a whirlwind of lines applied over colour fields to define his features, his gap-toothed smile revealing his age and good humour. As a son of Eardley’s dealer, Bill Macaulay of The Scottish Gallery in Edinburgh, Eardley will have known the boy well.Two Children (Lot 169) is a particularly resolved and successful work. Skilful layering and blending of multi-coloured pastels focus attention on the children’s faces, their overlapping pose suggesting the intimacy of siblings. Eardley’s gestural technique communicates the patterning of their clothing, which gives way to free form mark-making.Ginger (Lot 170) is a dignified yet tender portrait. Executed with oil on board, the boy looks directly at the artist (and by extension the viewer). As Christopher Andreae has written about such works:They were portraits not caricatures. She had too much rapport with them for such distortion. And direct, daily experience of them actually meant she knew them well and painted them in their world…she [did not]…let sentimentalism sift sugar over her understanding of these kids. (Christopher Andreae, Joan Eardley, Farnham 2013, p. 127)
§ JOHN DUNCAN FERGUSSON R.B.A. (SCOTTISH 1874-1961) SUPPER DANCE Inscribed by Margaret Morris 'J. D. Fergusson / Early Café drawing 1902 / with love & blessings / from Meg & Fergus / Glasgow May 1965' on the backboard, watercolour, brush and ink on paperDimensions:45cm x 31cm (17.75in x 12.25in)Provenance:Provenance:Given by Margaret Morris to James and Martha Arnott in 1965 and thence by descent to the present ownerExhibited:The Fine Art Society Ltd, London, John Duncan Fergusson (1874-1961): A Centenary Exhibition, 10 September-4 October 1974 and tour to Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, Glasgow and The Fine Art Society Ltd, Edinburgh , no.114The Scottish Arts Council Gallery, Edinburgh, The Need to Draw: 20th-Century Scottish Artists at Work, 22 November-14 December 1975, no.22Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh, The Scottish Colourist Series: J. D. Fergusson, 7 December 2013-15 June 2014Literature:Jean Geddes and Margaret Morris, Café Drawings in Edwardian Paris from the Sketch-books of J. D. Fergusson, Blackie, Glasgow, 1974, repr. b/w p. 25Note: Note: John Duncan Fergusson and Margaret Morris first met Martha Lawrence Grant (1916-96) when the latter attended Morris’s dance classes in Glasgow in the 1930s. She became a vital figure in Margaret Morris Movement (MMM) and was in the process of establishing an MMM school in Aberdeen when World War Two began. At that point, Fergusson was primarily based in Paris, whilst Morris spent most of her time in London; the conflict resulted in their move to 4 Clouston Street, Glasgow.Fergus and Meg, as they were affectionately known, galvanised the city’s art scene. They were founder members of the New Art Club in 1940, which aimed to stimulate debate and to create affordable exhibiting opportunities. Two years later, Fergusson became founding President of the Club’s successor, the New Scottish Group, which staged eight exhibitions of its members’ work between 1943 and 1956.It is believed that Martha met James Fullarton Arnott (1914-82) through the New Art Club. James was an Assistant Lecturer in the English Department at the University of Glasgow, where he was to become Emeritus Professor of Drama. The couple formed a lifelong creative friendship with Fergus and Meg and were married in 1945. Their son Alan was born in 1948 and he has recalled:The impact of Fergus and Meg on the artistic life of post-war Glasgow, and indeed Scotland, was immense. Painters, sculptors, potters, designers, dancers, actors and musicians all thrived in the atmosphere of post-war Glasgow. While Meg and Fergus provided the artistic inspiration, Mum and Dad provided backing, encouragement and support. During James’s illustrious career, he devised the Drama course at the re-opened Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama (RSAMD) and in 1966 was appointed the first Head of the Drama Department at the University of Glasgow. Martha helped to establish and run the RSAMD Library, as well as designing and creating costumes for Academy and University productions.With his knowledge of arts funding and art world contacts, James provided vital support in Meg’s launching of the Celtic Ballet, Scottish National Ballet and Scottish Ballet companies. In her turn, Martha taught and danced at MMM Summer Schools and sat for Fergus, not least sharing modelling duties with Meg for his Glasgow-era masterpiece Danu, Mother of the Gods of 1952, now in The Fergusson Gallery, Perth.Alan has further explained:We holidayed in the South of France with them both in the 50s and with Meg in the 60s. They lived in Glasgow (in the West End) and were regular visitors to our houses in Saltcoats and then Glasgow – and we frequently visited them.Following Fergus’s death in 1961, Meg established the J. D. Fergusson Art Foundation to secure his legacy and to support living artists. Martha and James were founding committee members and Alan succeeded James on the committee in 1983. The Foundation’s aims were achieved with the opening of The Fergusson Gallery in Perth in 1992 and the launch of the J. D. Fergusson Arts Award Trust in 1995.Supper Dance (Lot 149) and Kelvin Valley (Lot 148) pay testament to this creative friendship. Both were given to the Arnotts by Meg in the 1960s and are beautiful examples from key periods in Fergus’s career. In 1907, he took the momentous decision to move from Edinburgh to Paris, which he described as ‘simply a place of freedom’. He immersed himself in the artistic, intellectual and social life of the French capital and made his reputation as a leading artist of the twentieth century during the six years he lived there before World War One. He particularly revelled in its bustling café and restaurant scene and Supper Dance is a beautifully accomplished image of the fashionable clientele whom Fergus enjoyed capturing in images of elegance and movement. His fluid draughtsmanship is clear in passages such as the realisation of the female dancer’s gown, whilst a lively composition leads the eye from the champagne in the foreground, to the dancing couple, to another observed in intimate conversation in the background.Kelvin Valley is a jewel of a painting, in which Fergus pays homage to the city which was the location for the final chapter of his international career. The Clouston Street flat overlooked Glasgow’s Botanic Gardens and was joined, via the River Kelvin, to Kelvingrove Park; these green spaces provided inspiration for the artist’s late, lyrical landscapes. He developed a distinct ‘Glasgow palette’ characterised by high-toned shades of green and pink, which were delicately and deftly applied to their supports in a gentle yet confident finale to the images of Princes Street Gardens, the Scottish Highlands and the South of France which preceded them.As Alan has concluded:Fergus was a lovely man. He treated children the same as everyone else and encouraged me to draw. Meg was full of life and energy and retained the strength and grace of a 20-year-old. There was great love and generosity of spirit amongst us all.
ROBERT BROUGH R.A., A.R.S.A. (SCOTTISH 1872-1905) BRETON WOMEN SITTING ON A BEACH Oil on canvas laid down on boardDimensions:46cm x 61cm (18in x 24in)Provenance:Provenance: Bequeathed by the Artist to John Russell GreigHis Studio sale 1905 (no.76) as 'Brittany Peasants', where acquired by Dr. Norah Wattie, GlasgowExhibited:Aberdeen Art Gallery, Aberdeen, Robert Brough ARSA, 18 February-25 March 1995, no. 38, illustrated in colour on back coverIn the catalogue for the 1995 Aberdeen Art Gallery exhibition, Jennifer Melville stated: 'In Breton Women Sitting on a Beach Brough sets the silhouettes created by such local costumes against a glowing pink sand - coming as close to Gauguin's flat patterns as in any work.'Note: Note: In around 1900 a young Aberdonian artist named Robert Brough arrived in London. A rising star whose recent paintings had prompted a media frenzy, Brough felt compelled to relocate to the English capital to further develop his artistic career. Chelsea was the beating heart of London’s art world; accordingly, Brough took a lease at Rossetti Studios in Flood Street.Despite his youth, Brough already had the experience and credentials to mark him as an artist of consequence. He had trained in Paris at the Académie Julian, where in 1894 he shared lodgings with the Scottish Colourist S. J. Peploe (1871-1935), and following this spent a period working in Brittany, inspired by Paul Gauguin (1848-1903). He was charmed by the traditional way of life of the Breton people, and by the distinctive quality of light and vivid colouring of the landscape.Both Gauguin and Brough assimilated the tenets of the Synthesist movement, a painting style which prioritised the use of flat planes of harmonious colour and of rhythmic, pattern-inflected composition over more naturalistic representation. Brough’s Brittany work firmly acknowledges Syntheticism but is tempered by an observational grounding, owing to his fascination with the Breton peoples’ lives and customs. His paintings from this period constitute a sensitive record of a traditional people, rendered with an innovatively modern, almost post-Impressionist eye.Jennifer Melville observed that ‘In Breton Women Sitting on a Beach Brough sets the silhouettes created by [the] local costumes against a glowing pink sand - coming as close to Gauguin’s flat patterns as in any work’. (Jennifer Melville, Robert Brough, Aberdeen Art Gallery, 1995, p.21)Upon returning to Aberdeen in 1894, Brough began to earn a living as a portrait artist. He soon attracted commissions from notable families in the area, particularly those involved with the arts. His style retained the compositional brilliance of his earlier work, but his technique became increasingly dynamic and ‘sweeping’ owing to his confident application of licks of oil pigment. Sweet Violets dates to 1897, when Brough was establishing himself as an accomplished society portraitist, and is one of the artist’s masterpieces. His characteristically flamboyant brushwork delineates the elegant profile and fashionable attire of his subject, Barbara Staples, whom Brough had secured permission to paint after a meeting in Aberdeen. Affixed under Staples’ spectacular hat is a delicate patterned veil, through which her pink lips and cheeks are visible. She holds aloft a jar of violets, with their purple hues reflected at her throat and cuffs, inviting comparison between the beauty of the sitter and the flowers she holds. Sweet Violets and a companion painting titled Fantaisie en Folie (now in the Tate collection) implement a similar palette and portray their sitter in profile against a plain background, which Thomas Cooper suggests may have been informed by John Singer Sargent’s Madame Gautreau Drinking a Toast (1882-1883). (Thomas Cooper, ‘A Monstrous Imagining of Matter and Spirit: Robert Brough’s Fantaisie en Folie (1897)’, Immediations, Courtauld Institute of Art on-line journal, vol.4, no.3, 2018, accessed 10 May 2023) Brough’s companion portraits were exhibited widely to exceptional acclaim, rendering the young artist something of a critical phenomenon.Sweet Violets was acquired by Alexander Ogsten and hung in his home at Ardoe House, Aberdeen, for many years. So enamoured was Ogsten with the painting that he declined the many offers he received for it - including those made by Barbara Staples’ husband. Eventually the portrait was exhibited in a Munich gallery in 1960, where Staples’ family were able to purchase the picture and return it to the family. They, in turn, refused to accept any offer that was made for it, and for a long time it remained a family treasure. In the 1990s an article appeared in Country Life magazine searching for Brough’s lost masterpiece, and the Staples family responded explaining that the portrait was in their collection, and that the sitter was their grandmother. In 1995 Sweet Violets was included in Aberdeen Art Gallery’s Brough exhibition, after which it was loaned to, and ultimately purchased by, the present vendor.The success of Sweet Violets and Fantaisie en Folie encouraged Robert Brough to move to London. He promptly joined the Chelsea Arts Club, where he met Sargent, one of his artistic heroes. The pair became close friends, developing a mentor-protégé relationship and taking nearby Chelsea studios. Thanks in part to Sargent’s support, Brough’s painting career flourished year upon year.Young, ambitious, and precociously talented, Brough was on an impressive professional trajectory, yet was unable to reach the soaring heights for which he appeared to be destined on account of a tragic accident. On 20th January 1905 Brough was travelling by train from Perth to London when a major crash occurred. He suffered serious burns and died the following day, with his mother and Singer Sargent at his bedside. His life, and extraordinary potential, was thus curtailed.Throughout his life Brough was successful and well-known; his obituary recorded that he combined ‘the dash of Sargent and the beautiful refinement of Velazquez.’ (The artist W. G. Robb quoted in an obituary in a Scottish newspaper, 1905) Despite this, his early death appears initially to have prevented him from being fully admitted to the canon of great painters in the history of Scottish art. This is largely due to the brevity of his career: relatively few artworks survive and he had less time than most to crystallise his artistic legacy. Fortunately, recent reviews of Scottish painting have done much to reinstate Brough’s status as a painter of remarkable quality, who worked at the forefront of innovative artistic movements, both in Britain and in France.Robert Brough’s artworks appear on the market infrequently, and Lyon & Turnbull is therefore particularly delighted to be offering two tour-de-force oils, both of exceptional importance and each dating to key moments in his career.
§ JOAN EARDLEY R.S.A. (SCOTTISH 1921-1963) A GLASGOW BOY Signed, pastelDimensions:19cm x 10cm (7.5in x 4in)Provenance:Provenance: Bourne Fine Art, EdinburghNote: Note: The Townhead district of Glasgow and the fishing village of Catterline, on the north-east coast of Scotland, provided the locations and communities which inspired much of Joan Eardley’s oeuvre, revealing her deep sense of place and people in works which have secured her a leading place in British art history.As Fiona Pearson has explained:Eardley was a strong, passionate painter who was totally engaged in depicting the life forces around her, everything from children to nature…Eardley’s deep love of humanity was manifest in images of the resilience of the human spirit among the poor, the old and the very young…[She reminds…] Scots of lost tenement communities and the wild natural beauty of the landscape. (Fiona Pearson, Joan Eardley, National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh, 2007, pp.8-9)In 1953 Eardley moved into a studio at 204 St James Road in Townhead, above a scrap-metal merchant’s premises. The area was of mixed residential and light industrial use, was rundown and overcrowded, yet she was drawn to its vibrancy, declaring:I like the friendliness of the back streets. Life is at its most uninhibited here. Dilapidation is often more interesting to a painter as is anything that has been used and lived with – whether it be an ivy-covered cottage, a broken farm-cart or an old tenement. (As quoted in Patrick Elliott and Anne Galastro, Joan Eardley: A Sense of Place, National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh, 2016, p.14).Eardley became a familiar figure sketching and photographing in the streets, drawn to the games and squabbles of the neighbourhood’s children and to evidence of lives lived in and amongst its decaying architecture. She worked spontaneously, at speed and often on the modest scale afforded by pocket sketchbooks, using larger sheets, chalks and pastels when developing imagery on return to her studio.Works such as Children Playing Marbles (Lot 166) show how Eardley instinctively empathised with childhood emotions, as a group of youngsters are absorbed in the drama of a competitive game. In The Blue Pinafore (Lot 167) a child is caught in moment of contemplation. Her facial expression is depicted with tenderness and her unselfconscious pose speaks of innocence, whilst the thick application of pastel – sometimes highly coloured – signifies form and the artist’s energetic technique.As Eardley became known in Townhead, so her natural rapport with the local children developed and some came to her studio to sit for her. She recalled:Most of them I get on with…some interest me much more as characters…they don’t need much encouragement: they don’t pose…they are completely uninhibited and they just behave as they would among themselves…They just let out all their life and energy they haven’t been able to at school. (As quoted in Elliott and Galastro, op.cit., p.48)The studio works could be more considered, as seen in Studies of Amanda (Lot 174) and Portrait Study (Lot 173). Boy with Blue Trousers (Lot 172) shows the ease at which she put her sitters, a whirlwind of lines applied over colour fields to define his features, his gap-toothed smile revealing his age and good humour. As a son of Eardley’s dealer, Bill Macaulay of The Scottish Gallery in Edinburgh, Eardley will have known the boy well.Two Children (Lot 169) is a particularly resolved and successful work. Skilful layering and blending of multi-coloured pastels focus attention on the children’s faces, their overlapping pose suggesting the intimacy of siblings. Eardley’s gestural technique communicates the patterning of their clothing, which gives way to free form mark-making.Ginger (Lot 170) is a dignified yet tender portrait. Executed with oil on board, the boy looks directly at the artist (and by extension the viewer). As Christopher Andreae has written about such works:They were portraits not caricatures. She had too much rapport with them for such distortion. And direct, daily experience of them actually meant she knew them well and painted them in their world…she [did not]…let sentimentalism sift sugar over her understanding of these kids. (Christopher Andreae, Joan Eardley, Farnham 2013, p. 127)
§ JOAN EARDLEY R.S.A. (SCOTTISH 1921-1963) CHILDREN PLAYING MARBLES With the Artist's Estate Inventory Number ED958, watercolourDimensions:28cm x 28cm (11in x 11in)Provenance:Provenance: The Artist's EstatePrivate Collection, ScotlandDuncan R. Miller Fine Arts, LondonExhibited: The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh, Joan Eardley, Paintings, Watercolours, Pastels and Drawings, 1988, no.11 Note: Note: The Townhead district of Glasgow and the fishing village of Catterline, on the north-east coast of Scotland, provided the locations and communities which inspired much of Joan Eardley’s oeuvre, revealing her deep sense of place and people in works which have secured her a leading place in British art history.As Fiona Pearson has explained:Eardley was a strong, passionate painter who was totally engaged in depicting the life forces around her, everything from children to nature…Eardley’s deep love of humanity was manifest in images of the resilience of the human spirit among the poor, the old and the very young…[She reminds…] Scots of lost tenement communities and the wild natural beauty of the landscape. (Fiona Pearson, Joan Eardley, National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh, 2007, pp.8-9)In 1953 Eardley moved into a studio at 204 St James Road in Townhead, above a scrap-metal merchant’s premises. The area was of mixed residential and light industrial use, was rundown and overcrowded, yet she was drawn to its vibrancy, declaring:I like the friendliness of the back streets. Life is at its most uninhibited here. Dilapidation is often more interesting to a painter as is anything that has been used and lived with – whether it be an ivy-covered cottage, a broken farm-cart or an old tenement. (As quoted in Patrick Elliott and Anne Galastro, Joan Eardley: A Sense of Place, National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh, 2016, p.14).Eardley became a familiar figure sketching and photographing in the streets, drawn to the games and squabbles of the neighbourhood’s children and to evidence of lives lived in and amongst its decaying architecture. She worked spontaneously, at speed and often on the modest scale afforded by pocket sketchbooks, using larger sheets, chalks and pastels when developing imagery on return to her studio.Works such as Children Playing Marbles (Lot 166) show how Eardley instinctively empathised with childhood emotions, as a group of youngsters are absorbed in the drama of a competitive game. In The Blue Pinafore (Lot 167) a child is caught in moment of contemplation. Her facial expression is depicted with tenderness and her unselfconscious pose speaks of innocence, whilst the thick application of pastel – sometimes highly coloured – signifies form and the artist’s energetic technique.As Eardley became known in Townhead, so her natural rapport with the local children developed and some came to her studio to sit for her. She recalled:Most of them I get on with…some interest me much more as characters…they don’t need much encouragement: they don’t pose…they are completely uninhibited and they just behave as they would among themselves…They just let out all their life and energy they haven’t been able to at school. (As quoted in Elliott and Galastro, op.cit., p.48)The studio works could be more considered, as seen in Studies of Amanda (Lot 174) and Portrait Study (Lot 173). Boy with Blue Trousers (Lot 172) shows the ease at which she put her sitters, a whirlwind of lines applied over colour fields to define his features, his gap-toothed smile revealing his age and good humour. As a son of Eardley’s dealer, Bill Macaulay of The Scottish Gallery in Edinburgh, Eardley will have known the boy well.Two Children (Lot 169) is a particularly resolved and successful work. Skilful layering and blending of multi-coloured pastels focus attention on the children’s faces, their overlapping pose suggesting the intimacy of siblings. Eardley’s gestural technique communicates the patterning of their clothing, which gives way to free form mark-making.Ginger (Lot 170) is a dignified yet tender portrait. Executed with oil on board, the boy looks directly at the artist (and by extension the viewer). As Christopher Andreae has written about such works:They were portraits not caricatures. She had too much rapport with them for such distortion. And direct, daily experience of them actually meant she knew them well and painted them in their world…she [did not]…let sentimentalism sift sugar over her understanding of these kids. (Christopher Andreae, Joan Eardley, Farnham 2013, p. 127)
§ JOAN EARDLEY R.S.A. (SCOTTISH 1921-1963) BOY WITH BLUE TROUSERS PastelDimensions:45cm x 33cm (17.75in x 13in)Provenance:Provenance: William 'Bill' Macaulay and thence by descentPrivate Collection, U.S.A Note: Exhibited: The Scottish Gallery, Joan Eardley in Context, 6 August-5 September 2015, no.16Note: This is a portrait of Martin Macaulay and is one of several studies of the five children of William 'Bill' Macaulay, Senior Partner of The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh, which Eardley executed in 1960. The Townhead district of Glasgow and the fishing village of Catterline, on the north-east coast of Scotland, provided the locations and communities which inspired much of Joan Eardley’s oeuvre, revealing her deep sense of place and people in works which have secured her a leading place in British art history.As Fiona Pearson has explained:Eardley was a strong, passionate painter who was totally engaged in depicting the life forces around her, everything from children to nature…Eardley’s deep love of humanity was manifest in images of the resilience of the human spirit among the poor, the old and the very young…[She reminds…] Scots of lost tenement communities and the wild natural beauty of the landscape. (Fiona Pearson, Joan Eardley, National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh, 2007, pp.8-9)In 1953 Eardley moved into a studio at 204 St James Road in Townhead, above a scrap-metal merchant’s premises. The area was of mixed residential and light industrial use, was rundown and overcrowded, yet she was drawn to its vibrancy, declaring:I like the friendliness of the back streets. Life is at its most uninhibited here. Dilapidation is often more interesting to a painter as is anything that has been used and lived with – whether it be an ivy-covered cottage, a broken farm-cart or an old tenement. (As quoted in Patrick Elliott and Anne Galastro, Joan Eardley: A Sense of Place, National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh, 2016, p.14).Eardley became a familiar figure sketching and photographing in the streets, drawn to the games and squabbles of the neighbourhood’s children and to evidence of lives lived in and amongst its decaying architecture. She worked spontaneously, at speed and often on the modest scale afforded by pocket sketchbooks, using larger sheets, chalks and pastels when developing imagery on return to her studio.Works such as Children Playing Marbles (Lot 166) show how Eardley instinctively empathised with childhood emotions, as a group of youngsters are absorbed in the drama of a competitive game. In The Blue Pinafore (Lot 167) a child is caught in moment of contemplation. Her facial expression is depicted with tenderness and her unselfconscious pose speaks of innocence, whilst the thick application of pastel – sometimes highly coloured – signifies form and the artist’s energetic technique.As Eardley became known in Townhead, so her natural rapport with the local children developed and some came to her studio to sit for her. She recalled:Most of them I get on with…some interest me much more as characters…they don’t need much encouragement: they don’t pose…they are completely uninhibited and they just behave as they would among themselves…They just let out all their life and energy they haven’t been able to at school. (As quoted in Elliott and Galastro, op.cit., p.48)The studio works could be more considered, as seen in Studies of Amanda (Lot 174) and Portrait Study (Lot 173). Boy with Blue Trousers (Lot 172) shows the ease at which she put her sitters, a whirlwind of lines applied over colour fields to define his features, his gap-toothed smile revealing his age and good humour. As a son of Eardley’s dealer, Bill Macaulay of The Scottish Gallery in Edinburgh, Eardley will have known the boy well.Two Children (Lot 169) is a particularly resolved and successful work. Skilful layering and blending of multi-coloured pastels focus attention on the children’s faces, their overlapping pose suggesting the intimacy of siblings. Eardley’s gestural technique communicates the patterning of their clothing, which gives way to free form mark-making.Ginger (Lot 170) is a dignified yet tender portrait. Executed with oil on board, the boy looks directly at the artist (and by extension the viewer). As Christopher Andreae has written about such works:They were portraits not caricatures. She had too much rapport with them for such distortion. And direct, daily experience of them actually meant she knew them well and painted them in their world…she [did not]…let sentimentalism sift sugar over her understanding of these kids. (Christopher Andreae, Joan Eardley, Farnham 2013, p. 127)
§ JOAN EARDLEY R.S.A. (SCOTTISH 1921-1963) PORTRAIT STUDY Pastel on coloured paperDimensions:16cm x 18.5cm (6.25in x 7.25in)Note: Note: The Townhead district of Glasgow and the fishing village of Catterline, on the north-east coast of Scotland, provided the locations and communities which inspired much of Joan Eardley’s oeuvre, revealing her deep sense of place and people in works which have secured her a leading place in British art history.As Fiona Pearson has explained:Eardley was a strong, passionate painter who was totally engaged in depicting the life forces around her, everything from children to nature…Eardley’s deep love of humanity was manifest in images of the resilience of the human spirit among the poor, the old and the very young…[She reminds…] Scots of lost tenement communities and the wild natural beauty of the landscape. (Fiona Pearson, Joan Eardley, National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh, 2007, pp.8-9)In 1953 Eardley moved into a studio at 204 St James Road in Townhead, above a scrap-metal merchant’s premises. The area was of mixed residential and light industrial use, was rundown and overcrowded, yet she was drawn to its vibrancy, declaring:I like the friendliness of the back streets. Life is at its most uninhibited here. Dilapidation is often more interesting to a painter as is anything that has been used and lived with – whether it be an ivy-covered cottage, a broken farm-cart or an old tenement. (As quoted in Patrick Elliott and Anne Galastro, Joan Eardley: A Sense of Place, National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh, 2016, p.14).Eardley became a familiar figure sketching and photographing in the streets, drawn to the games and squabbles of the neighbourhood’s children and to evidence of lives lived in and amongst its decaying architecture. She worked spontaneously, at speed and often on the modest scale afforded by pocket sketchbooks, using larger sheets, chalks and pastels when developing imagery on return to her studio.Works such as Children Playing Marbles (Lot 166) show how Eardley instinctively empathised with childhood emotions, as a group of youngsters are absorbed in the drama of a competitive game. In The Blue Pinafore (Lot 167) a child is caught in moment of contemplation. Her facial expression is depicted with tenderness and her unselfconscious pose speaks of innocence, whilst the thick application of pastel – sometimes highly coloured – signifies form and the artist’s energetic technique.As Eardley became known in Townhead, so her natural rapport with the local children developed and some came to her studio to sit for her. She recalled:Most of them I get on with…some interest me much more as characters…they don’t need much encouragement: they don’t pose…they are completely uninhibited and they just behave as they would among themselves…They just let out all their life and energy they haven’t been able to at school. (As quoted in Elliott and Galastro, op.cit., p.48)The studio works could be more considered, as seen in Studies of Amanda (Lot 174) and Portrait Study (Lot 173). Boy with Blue Trousers (Lot 172) shows the ease at which she put her sitters, a whirlwind of lines applied over colour fields to define his features, his gap-toothed smile revealing his age and good humour. As a son of Eardley’s dealer, Bill Macaulay of The Scottish Gallery in Edinburgh, Eardley will have known the boy well.Two Children (Lot 169) is a particularly resolved and successful work. Skilful layering and blending of multi-coloured pastels focus attention on the children’s faces, their overlapping pose suggesting the intimacy of siblings. Eardley’s gestural technique communicates the patterning of their clothing, which gives way to free form mark-making.Ginger (Lot 170) is a dignified yet tender portrait. Executed with oil on board, the boy looks directly at the artist (and by extension the viewer). As Christopher Andreae has written about such works:They were portraits not caricatures. She had too much rapport with them for such distortion. And direct, daily experience of them actually meant she knew them well and painted them in their world…she [did not]…let sentimentalism sift sugar over her understanding of these kids. (Christopher Andreae, Joan Eardley, Farnham 2013, p. 127)
§ JOHN DUNCAN FERGUSSON R.B.A. (SCOTTISH 1874-1961) KELVIN VALLEY Signed, titled and dated 1942 verso, oil on boardDimensions:25cm x 19cm (9.75 x 7.5in)Provenance:Provenance:Given by Margaret Morris to Martha Arnott in 1967 and thence by descent to the present ownerNote: Note: John Duncan Fergusson and Margaret Morris first met Martha Lawrence Grant (1916-96) when the latter attended Morris’s dance classes in Glasgow in the 1930s. She became a vital figure in Margaret Morris Movement (MMM) and was in the process of establishing an MMM school in Aberdeen when World War Two began. At that point, Fergusson was primarily based in Paris, whilst Morris spent most of her time in London; the conflict resulted in their move to 4 Clouston Street, Glasgow.Fergus and Meg, as they were affectionately known, galvanised the city’s art scene. They were founder members of the New Art Club in 1940, which aimed to stimulate debate and to create affordable exhibiting opportunities. Two years later, Fergusson became founding President of the Club’s successor, the New Scottish Group, which staged eight exhibitions of its members’ work between 1943 and 1956.It is believed that Martha met James Fullarton Arnott (1914-82) through the New Art Club. James was an Assistant Lecturer in the English Department at the University of Glasgow, where he was to become Emeritus Professor of Drama. The couple formed a lifelong creative friendship with Fergus and Meg and were married in 1945. Their son Alan was born in 1948 and he has recalled:The impact of Fergus and Meg on the artistic life of post-war Glasgow, and indeed Scotland, was immense. Painters, sculptors, potters, designers, dancers, actors and musicians all thrived in the atmosphere of post-war Glasgow. While Meg and Fergus provided the artistic inspiration, Mum and Dad provided backing, encouragement and support. During James’s illustrious career, he devised the Drama course at the re-opened Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama (RSAMD) and in 1966 was appointed the first Head of the Drama Department at the University of Glasgow. Martha helped to establish and run the RSAMD Library, as well as designing and creating costumes for Academy and University productions.With his knowledge of arts funding and art world contacts, James provided vital support in Meg’s launching of the Celtic Ballet, Scottish National Ballet and Scottish Ballet companies. In her turn, Martha taught and danced at MMM Summer Schools and sat for Fergus, not least sharing modelling duties with Meg for his Glasgow-era masterpiece Danu, Mother of the Gods of 1952, now in The Fergusson Gallery, Perth.Alan has further explained:We holidayed in the South of France with them both in the 50s and with Meg in the 60s. They lived in Glasgow (in the West End) and were regular visitors to our houses in Saltcoats and then Glasgow – and we frequently visited them.Following Fergus’s death in 1961, Meg established the J. D. Fergusson Art Foundation to secure his legacy and to support living artists. Martha and James were founding committee members and Alan succeeded James on the committee in 1983. The Foundation’s aims were achieved with the opening of The Fergusson Gallery in Perth in 1992 and the launch of the J. D. Fergusson Arts Award Trust in 1995.Supper Dance (Lot 149) and Kelvin Valley (Lot 148) pay testament to this creative friendship. Both were given to the Arnotts by Meg in the 1960s and are beautiful examples from key periods in Fergus’s career. In 1907, he took the momentous decision to move from Edinburgh to Paris, which he described as ‘simply a place of freedom’. He immersed himself in the artistic, intellectual and social life of the French capital and made his reputation as a leading artist of the twentieth century during the six years he lived there before World War One. He particularly revelled in its bustling café and restaurant scene and Supper Dance is a beautifully accomplished image of the fashionable clientele whom Fergus enjoyed capturing in images of elegance and movement. His fluid draughtsmanship is clear in passages such as the realisation of the female dancer’s gown, whilst a lively composition leads the eye from the champagne in the foreground, to the dancing couple, to another observed in intimate conversation in the background.Kelvin Valley is a jewel of a painting, in which Fergus pays homage to the city which was the location for the final chapter of his international career. The Clouston Street flat overlooked Glasgow’s Botanic Gardens and was joined, via the River Kelvin, to Kelvingrove Park; these green spaces provided inspiration for the artist’s late, lyrical landscapes. He developed a distinct ‘Glasgow palette’ characterised by high-toned shades of green and pink, which were delicately and deftly applied to their supports in a gentle yet confident finale to the images of Princes Street Gardens, the Scottish Highlands and the South of France which preceded them.As Alan has concluded:Fergus was a lovely man. He treated children the same as everyone else and encouraged me to draw. Meg was full of life and energy and retained the strength and grace of a 20-year-old. There was great love and generosity of spirit amongst us all.
§ JOAN EARDLEY R.S.A. (SCOTTISH 1921-1963) GINGER With the Artist's Estate Inventory Number EE30 verso, oil on boardDimensions:43cm x 37cm (17in x 14.5in)Provenance:Provenance: Roland, Browse and Delbanco, LondonNote: Note: The Townhead district of Glasgow and the fishing village of Catterline, on the north-east coast of Scotland, provided the locations and communities which inspired much of Joan Eardley’s oeuvre, revealing her deep sense of place and people in works which have secured her a leading place in British art history.As Fiona Pearson has explained:Eardley was a strong, passionate painter who was totally engaged in depicting the life forces around her, everything from children to nature…Eardley’s deep love of humanity was manifest in images of the resilience of the human spirit among the poor, the old and the very young…[She reminds…] Scots of lost tenement communities and the wild natural beauty of the landscape. (Fiona Pearson, Joan Eardley, National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh, 2007, pp.8-9)In 1953 Eardley moved into a studio at 204 St James Road in Townhead, above a scrap-metal merchant’s premises. The area was of mixed residential and light industrial use, was rundown and overcrowded, yet she was drawn to its vibrancy, declaring:I like the friendliness of the back streets. Life is at its most uninhibited here. Dilapidation is often more interesting to a painter as is anything that has been used and lived with – whether it be an ivy-covered cottage, a broken farm-cart or an old tenement. (As quoted in Patrick Elliott and Anne Galastro, Joan Eardley: A Sense of Place, National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh, 2016, p.14).Eardley became a familiar figure sketching and photographing in the streets, drawn to the games and squabbles of the neighbourhood’s children and to evidence of lives lived in and amongst its decaying architecture. She worked spontaneously, at speed and often on the modest scale afforded by pocket sketchbooks, using larger sheets, chalks and pastels when developing imagery on return to her studio.Works such as Children Playing Marbles (Lot 166) show how Eardley instinctively empathised with childhood emotions, as a group of youngsters are absorbed in the drama of a competitive game. In The Blue Pinafore (Lot 167) a child is caught in moment of contemplation. Her facial expression is depicted with tenderness and her unselfconscious pose speaks of innocence, whilst the thick application of pastel – sometimes highly coloured – signifies form and the artist’s energetic technique.As Eardley became known in Townhead, so her natural rapport with the local children developed and some came to her studio to sit for her. She recalled:Most of them I get on with…some interest me much more as characters…they don’t need much encouragement: they don’t pose…they are completely uninhibited and they just behave as they would among themselves…They just let out all their life and energy they haven’t been able to at school. (As quoted in Elliott and Galastro, op.cit., p.48)The studio works could be more considered, as seen in Studies of Amanda (Lot 174) and Portrait Study (Lot 173). Boy with Blue Trousers (Lot 172) shows the ease at which she put her sitters, a whirlwind of lines applied over colour fields to define his features, his gap-toothed smile revealing his age and good humour. As a son of Eardley’s dealer, Bill Macaulay of The Scottish Gallery in Edinburgh, Eardley will have known the boy well.Two Children (Lot 169) is a particularly resolved and successful work. Skilful layering and blending of multi-coloured pastels focus attention on the children’s faces, their overlapping pose suggesting the intimacy of siblings. Eardley’s gestural technique communicates the patterning of their clothing, which gives way to free form mark-making.Ginger (Lot 170) is a dignified yet tender portrait. Executed with oil on board, the boy looks directly at the artist (and by extension the viewer). As Christopher Andreae has written about such works:They were portraits not caricatures. She had too much rapport with them for such distortion. And direct, daily experience of them actually meant she knew them well and painted them in their world…she [did not]…let sentimentalism sift sugar over her understanding of these kids. (Christopher Andreae, Joan Eardley, Farnham 2013, p. 127)
§ JOAN EARDLEY R.S.A. (SCOTTISH 1921-1963) TWO CHILDREN Pastel on brown paperDimensions:25.5cm x 20cm (10in x 8in)Provenance:Provenance: Acquired from the Artist’s Estate by the father of the present owner.Exhibited: Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh, Joan Eardley, 6 November 2007-13 January 2008Note: Note: The Townhead district of Glasgow and the fishing village of Catterline, on the north-east coast of Scotland, provided the locations and communities which inspired much of Joan Eardley’s oeuvre, revealing her deep sense of place and people in works which have secured her a leading place in British art history.As Fiona Pearson has explained:Eardley was a strong, passionate painter who was totally engaged in depicting the life forces around her, everything from children to nature…Eardley’s deep love of humanity was manifest in images of the resilience of the human spirit among the poor, the old and the very young…[She reminds…] Scots of lost tenement communities and the wild natural beauty of the landscape. (Fiona Pearson, Joan Eardley, National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh, 2007, pp.8-9)In 1953 Eardley moved into a studio at 204 St James Road in Townhead, above a scrap-metal merchant’s premises. The area was of mixed residential and light industrial use, was rundown and overcrowded, yet she was drawn to its vibrancy, declaring:I like the friendliness of the back streets. Life is at its most uninhibited here. Dilapidation is often more interesting to a painter as is anything that has been used and lived with – whether it be an ivy-covered cottage, a broken farm-cart or an old tenement. (As quoted in Patrick Elliott and Anne Galastro, Joan Eardley: A Sense of Place, National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh, 2016, p.14).Eardley became a familiar figure sketching and photographing in the streets, drawn to the games and squabbles of the neighbourhood’s children and to evidence of lives lived in and amongst its decaying architecture. She worked spontaneously, at speed and often on the modest scale afforded by pocket sketchbooks, using larger sheets, chalks and pastels when developing imagery on return to her studio.Works such as Children Playing Marbles (Lot 166) show how Eardley instinctively empathised with childhood emotions, as a group of youngsters are absorbed in the drama of a competitive game. In The Blue Pinafore (Lot 167) a child is caught in moment of contemplation. Her facial expression is depicted with tenderness and her unselfconscious pose speaks of innocence, whilst the thick application of pastel – sometimes highly coloured – signifies form and the artist’s energetic technique.As Eardley became known in Townhead, so her natural rapport with the local children developed and some came to her studio to sit for her. She recalled:Most of them I get on with…some interest me much more as characters…they don’t need much encouragement: they don’t pose…they are completely uninhibited and they just behave as they would among themselves…They just let out all their life and energy they haven’t been able to at school. (As quoted in Elliott and Galastro, op.cit., p.48)The studio works could be more considered, as seen in Studies of Amanda (Lot 174) and Portrait Study (Lot 173). Boy with Blue Trousers (Lot 172) shows the ease at which she put her sitters, a whirlwind of lines applied over colour fields to define his features, his gap-toothed smile revealing his age and good humour. As a son of Eardley’s dealer, Bill Macaulay of The Scottish Gallery in Edinburgh, Eardley will have known the boy well.Two Children (Lot 169) is a particularly resolved and successful work. Skilful layering and blending of multi-coloured pastels focus attention on the children’s faces, their overlapping pose suggesting the intimacy of siblings. Eardley’s gestural technique communicates the patterning of their clothing, which gives way to free form mark-making.Ginger (Lot 170) is a dignified yet tender portrait. Executed with oil on board, the boy looks directly at the artist (and by extension the viewer). As Christopher Andreae has written about such works:They were portraits not caricatures. She had too much rapport with them for such distortion. And direct, daily experience of them actually meant she knew them well and painted them in their world…she [did not]…let sentimentalism sift sugar over her understanding of these kids. (Christopher Andreae, Joan Eardley, Farnham 2013, p. 127)
â—† ROBERT BROUGH R.A., A.R.S.A. (SCOTTISH 1872-1905) SWEET VIOLETS Oil on canvasDimensions:68.5cm x 104cm (27in x 41in)Provenance:Provenance: Alexander Ogston, ArdoeAcquired from the above by the sitters's husband and thence by family descentPrivate Collection, Scotland Exhibited: Royal Glasgow Institute, Glasgow, 1897, no.149Aberdeen Artists Society, Aberdeen, 1906, no.488Burlington Fine Arts Club, London, 1907, no.43Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh, 1926, no.335Palace of Arts, Empire Exhibition, Bellahouston Park, Glasgow, 3 May-29 October 1938, no. 59.Aberdeen Art Gallery, Aberdeen, Robert Brough ARSA, 18 February-25 March 1995, no.63, pp.50-51 Note: Note: In around 1900 a young Aberdonian artist named Robert Brough arrived in London. A rising star whose recent paintings had prompted a media frenzy, Brough felt compelled to relocate to the English capital to further develop his artistic career. Chelsea was the beating heart of London’s art world; accordingly, Brough took a lease at Rossetti Studios in Flood Street.Despite his youth, Brough already had the experience and credentials to mark him as an artist of consequence. He had trained in Paris at the Académie Julian, where in 1894 he shared lodgings with the Scottish Colourist S. J. Peploe (1871-1935), and following this spent a period working in Brittany, inspired by Paul Gauguin (1848-1903). He was charmed by the traditional way of life of the Breton people, and by the distinctive quality of light and vivid colouring of the landscape.Both Gauguin and Brough assimilated the tenets of the Synthesist movement, a painting style which prioritised the use of flat planes of harmonious colour and of rhythmic, pattern-inflected composition over more naturalistic representation. Brough’s Brittany work firmly acknowledges Syntheticism but is tempered by an observational grounding, owing to his fascination with the Breton peoples’ lives and customs. His paintings from this period constitute a sensitive record of a traditional people, rendered with an innovatively modern, almost post-Impressionist eye.Jennifer Melville observed that ‘In Breton Women Sitting on a Beach Brough sets the silhouettes created by [the] local costumes against a glowing pink sand - coming as close to Gauguin’s flat patterns as in any work’. (Jennifer Melville, Robert Brough, Aberdeen Art Gallery, 1995, p.21)Upon returning to Aberdeen in 1894, Brough began to earn a living as a portrait artist. He soon attracted commissions from notable families in the area, particularly those involved with the arts. His style retained the compositional brilliance of his earlier work, but his technique became increasingly dynamic and ‘sweeping’ owing to his confident application of licks of oil pigment. Sweet Violets dates to 1897, when Brough was establishing himself as an accomplished society portraitist, and is one of the artist’s masterpieces. His characteristically flamboyant brushwork delineates the elegant profile and fashionable attire of his subject, Barbara Staples, whom Brough had secured permission to paint after a meeting in Aberdeen. Affixed under Staples’ spectacular hat is a delicate patterned veil, through which her pink lips and cheeks are visible. She holds aloft a jar of violets, with their purple hues reflected at her throat and cuffs, inviting comparison between the beauty of the sitter and the flowers she holds. Sweet Violets and a companion painting titled Fantaisie en Folie (now in the Tate collection) implement a similar palette and portray their sitter in profile against a plain background, which Thomas Cooper suggests may have been informed by John Singer Sargent’s Madame Gautreau Drinking a Toast (1882-1883). (Thomas Cooper, ‘A Monstrous Imagining of Matter and Spirit: Robert Brough’s Fantaisie en Folie (1897)’, Immediations, Courtauld Institute of Art on-line journal, vol.4, no.3, 2018, accessed 10 May 2023) Brough’s companion portraits were exhibited widely to exceptional acclaim, rendering the young artist something of a critical phenomenon.Sweet Violets was acquired by Alexander Ogsten and hung in his home at Ardoe House, Aberdeen, for many years. So enamoured was Ogsten with the painting that he declined the many offers he received for it - including those made by Barbara Staples’ husband. Eventually the portrait was exhibited in a Munich gallery in 1960, where Staples’ family were able to purchase the picture and return it to the family. They, in turn, refused to accept any offer that was made for it, and for a long time it remained a family treasure. In the 1990s an article appeared in Country Life magazine searching for Brough’s lost masterpiece, and the Staples family responded explaining that the portrait was in their collection, and that the sitter was their grandmother. In 1995 Sweet Violets was included in Aberdeen Art Gallery’s Brough exhibition, after which it was loaned to, and ultimately purchased by, the present vendor.The success of Sweet Violets and Fantaisie en Folie encouraged Robert Brough to move to London. He promptly joined the Chelsea Arts Club, where he met Sargent, one of his artistic heroes. The pair became close friends, developing a mentor-protégé relationship and taking nearby Chelsea studios. Thanks in part to Sargent’s support, Brough’s painting career flourished year upon year. Young, ambitious, and precociously talented, Brough was on an impressive professional trajectory, yet was unable to reach the soaring heights for which he appeared to be destined on account of a tragic accident. On 20th January 1905 Brough was travelling by train from Perth to London when a major crash occurred. He suffered serious burns and died the following day, with his mother and Singer Sargent at his bedside. His life, and extraordinary potential, was thus curtailed. Throughout his life Brough was successful and well-known; his obituary recorded that he combined ‘the dash of Sargent and the beautiful refinement of Velazquez.’ (The artist W. G. Robb quoted in an obituary in a Scottish newspaper, 1905) Despite this, his early death appears initially to have prevented him from being fully admitted to the canon of great painters in the history of Scottish art. This is largely due to the brevity of his career: relatively few artworks survive and he had less time than most to crystallise his artistic legacy. Fortunately, recent reviews of Scottish painting have done much to reinstate Brough’s status as a painter of remarkable quality, who worked at the forefront of innovative artistic movements, both in Britain and in France. Robert Brough’s artworks appear on the market infrequently, and Lyon & Turnbull is therefore particularly delighted to be offering two tour-de-force oils, both of exceptional importance and each dating to key moments in his career.
Herbert Ward (British, 1863-1919)The charm doctor signed 'Herbert Ward' (to base), inscribed with the foundry mark 'ALEXIS PODIER/FONDEUR PARIS' (to base), bears inscription 'TO LAURIE AND MARGARET BENET/SOUVENIR OF A LASTING FRIENDSHIP/FROM/SARITA WARD' (on plaque attached to marble base) and bears inscription 'THE CHARM DOCTOR/CENTRAL AFRICA/SKETCH BY HERBERT WARD' (on plaque attached to marble base).bronze on a green marble base45.4 (17 7/8) highFootnotes:ProvenanceGifted to Laura and Margaret Benét by Sarita Ward, Herbert Ward's wife.Thence by descent.The American biographer Laura Benét was the sister of poets and Pulitzer prize winners, Stephen Vincent Benét and William Rose Benét. Herbert Ward struck up a friendship with William Rose Benét in Paris and the two families became close.A charm doctor was considered in several Congo tribes to be the connecting link between mortals and spirits. Another cast of 'The Charm Doctor' can be found in the collection of the Smithsonian Institute (USNM no. E23732-0), donated into the collection by the artist's wife and where it is noted to have been exhibited at the Salon Société des Artistes Français, Paris in 1902. There is also another cast of the sculpture, titled 'Le Sorcier' exhibited at the Musée d'arts de Nantes.Herbert Ward longed for adventure, and at the age of 15, he left England to satisfy his curiosities, spending his youth travelling extensively. In 1884, Ward set out for the Congo where he worked for various companies managing the transport of goods and supplies both to and from Europe. A year into his time in the Congo, Ward joined Henry Morgan Stanley's expedition travelling on the rivers across the country. Ward's appreciation and fascination for the Congo and it's people encouraged him to learn local languages and customs, allowing him to develop good relationships with various communities.Ward left Africa in 1889 and began a career as a touring writer and lecturer, where he paid a particular focus to his time in the Congo. Four years later he turned his attention to the Arts and began his formal artistic training. This led him to Paris to pursue bronze casting and his travel journals from the Congo became a source of inspiration for his sculptures. During his time in Paris, both the French Academy and the general public enjoyed his Congolese subjects. His style adopted a more natural depiction of the human figure, but Ward emphasised that his sculptures were not presented as scientific illustrations, rather they were art to share 'the spirit of Africa in the broad sense'. Throughout his artistic career, Ward begun to question colonialism, especially in Africa. During the First World War, Ward served as a Lieutenant in No. 3 Convoy of the British Ambulance Committee where he distinguished himself. However, his efforts during the war weakened his health and he died in 1919.Saleroom notices:Please refer to the online cataloguing of this lot for provenance details.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
Herbert Ward (British, 1863-1919)A Congo type signed 'Herbert Ward' (to neck verso) and bears inscription 'A CONGO TYPE/BY/HERBERT WARD/SOUVENIR JANUARY 11 1907' (on plaque attached to marble base).bronze with green marble base27.4 (10 13/16) highFootnotes:ProvenanceGifted to Laura Benét by Sarita Ward, Herbert Ward's wife, 11 January 1907. Thence by descent.The American biographer Laura Benét was the sister of poets and Pulitzer prize winners, Stephen Vincent Benét and William Rose Benét. Herbert Ward struck up a friendship with William Rose Benét in Paris and the two families became close.Herbert Ward longed for adventure, and at the age of 15, he left England to satisfy his curiosities, spending his youth travelling extensively. In 1884, Ward set out for the Congo where he worked for various companies managing the transport of goods and supplies both to and from Europe. A year into his time in the Congo, Ward joined Henry Morgan Stanley's expedition travelling on the rivers across the country. Ward's appreciation and fascination for the Congo and it's people encouraged him to learn local languages and customs, allowing him to develop good relationships with various communities.Ward left Africa in 1889 and began a career as a touring writer and lecturer, where he paid a particular focus to his time in the Congo. Four years later he turned his attention to the Arts and began his formal artistic training. This led him to Paris to pursue bronze casting and his travel journals from the Congo became a source of inspiration for his sculptures. During his time in Paris, both the French Academy and the general public enjoyed his Congolese subjects. His style adopted a more natural depiction of the human figure, but Ward emphasised that his sculptures were not presented as scientific illustrations, rather they were art to share 'the spirit of Africa in the broad sense'. Throughout his artistic career, Ward begun to question colonialism, especially in Africa. During the First World War, Ward served as a Lieutenant in No. 3 Convoy of the British Ambulance Committee where he distinguished himself. However, his efforts during the war weakened his health and he died in 1919.Saleroom notices:Please refer to the online cataloguing of this lot for provenance details.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
A collection of costume jewellery brooch pins. The brooches to include a signed Bond Boyd rhinestone set maple leaf brooch pin, gold tone silver tone marcasite, silver Thai spirit lantern brooch pin, a nephrite maple leaf, Coalport pictorial brooch. Smallest measures approx 3cm, largest measures approx 6.5cm. Total weight approx 154g.
Assorted figures including Coalport Queen Victoria 1439/7500, Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother1659/7500, Valentine Debutante Loves Dream and The Boy; Royal Worcester The Last Waltz 2629/12500, Spirit of the Dance 1196/5000 & First Steps, Lladro ballerina, Royal Doulton Ballet Shoes & Little Ballerina Condition Report:spirit of the dance, hairline crackballerina leg broken
HORNBY; fourteen O gauge tank wagons comprising 'Power Ethyl', 'Red Line Glyco Super Petrol', 'National Benzol Mixture', 'Pratts High Test Sealed', 'Wakefield Castrol Motor Oil', 'Gargoyle Mobil Oil', 'Manchester Oil Refinery Ltd', 'Motor Pratts Spirit', 'Quality Esso Petrols', 'Royal Daylight', 'Pool', 'Shell Lubricating Oil', 'Esso' and 'Motor Shell Spirit' (14).
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