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Man Drawing
pencil on paper
33 x 25cm. (image)
Provenance: Stanley Spencer Studio sale
executed on cream wove paper, not laid down. within conservation oak
frame. In good original condition.
SOLD
In this exceedingly fine pencil drawing, allowing the
viewer an intimate vantage-point into the working processes of an artist,
Spencer depicts a man drawing with a drawing-board resting on his lap.
Sporting as the figure does Spencer's trademark round glasses and 'pudding-bowl'
haircut, it is tempting to see in this figure an echo of the great artist
himself, as if Spencer is viewing himself from a distance and observing
himself in the act of creation. This out-of-body, Escher-like impossibility
of pictorial logic is, however, not implausible, for Spencer did on
a number of occasions within his oeuvre depict himself from
a remote and non-frontal perspective (see for example: Self-Portrait
with Patricia Preece, 1936.) Whatever the identity of the sitter,
the artist's wonderfully modulated drawing technique and exquisite handling
of form make Man Drawing a subtly compelling and beautifully
delicate composition.
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Study for 'Mending Cowls'
Study for 'Swan Upping at Cookham' to verso
pencil on paper
c. 1915
11.5 x 11cm.
Provenance: Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London.
One of Spencer's early masterpieces, 'Mending Cowls' shows the
view from his nursery at Fernlea of the Cookham oasthouses which had,
for him, a spiritual significance: "They were somehow benign. With
their wooden heads, they served as reminders of a religious presence."
£3,500
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Small Man with Large Female Figure
Similar drawing to verso
pencil on paper
27 x 18cm.
Provenance: Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London.
There are several instances in Spencer's work where
we see a submissive, masochistic side to his sexuality, most notably
in 'The Beatitudes of Love' (1937-1938.)
SOLD
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