.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
‘His people are always presences to which the clothes, the gestures, and the surroundings pay their full tribute of expression … This same intimate grasp underlies all his work, and is its distinctive feature. With him it is as if beauty had not only to be recognised and felt, but proved in the actual texture of life before it can be possessed in his art; and all through his career it is the actual human contacts which provide the quickening of his inspiration’ (Albert Rutherston)
In 1906 Henry Lamb forwent a promising career in medicine by dropping out of Medical School in Manchester and moving to London to enrol in the Chelsea School of Art. It was here, under the tutelage of Augustus John that he became a fluent and confident draftsman.
Initially inspired by his renowned teacher, Lamb started to move in the same artistic circles, becoming friends with writers, artists and benefactors such as Lytton Strachey, Virginia Woolf, Duncan Grant and Ottoline Morrell. Upon the tragic death of John’s wife Ida in Paris, Lamb became close to Dorelia McNeill, an art student who had been co-habiting with Augustus and Ida for the past year. Lamb had a frustratingly brief affair with Dorelia who he always secretly hoped would leave Augustus to be with him. Edie McNeill was Dorelia’s younger sister who would help look after the John family after Ida’s death. Lamb befriended her and subsequently drew and painted her portrait on numerous occasions. Keith Clements comments that 'one very lovely drawing of 1909 is especially characteristic of her and perfectly epitomises the period: dressed as if auditioning for Eliza Doolittle, or simply waiting in the wings of an Edwardian music-hall, from beneath the shadow of a large feather 'titfer' Edie pouts with indifference and stares vacantly past the artist' (K. Clements, Henry Lamb: The Artist and his Friends, Bristol, 1985, p. 97).
The drawing to which Clements refers (Tate) relates closely to the present work. The painting itself loses none of Edie’s look of disdainful indifference but is more considered in its handling. Edie’s flamboyant feather hat is retained as she sits in her deep purple dress and black jacket. The rich green background of the painting suggests the influence of formal 16th Century portraits. Edie sits resplendent and important, like a lady of the Renaissance, but for her “Edwardian music-hall’ attire. This combining of past artistic protocol with contemporary subjects is something at which Augustus John excelled, and was a technique popular with his Neo-Primitive Group contemporaries at the Slade School of Art.
The present work is a wonderful example of Lamb’s engagement with current artistic themes of the day and his technical ability to take these themes and combine them with a certain sardonic wit to create a masterfully insightful portrait of early 20th Century bohemia.
We are very grateful to Rebecca John for her assistance in preparing this catalogue entry.
In 1906 Henry Lamb forwent a promising career in medicine by dropping out of Medical School in Manchester and moving to London to enrol in the Chelsea School of Art. It was here, under the tutelage of Augustus John that he became a fluent and confident draftsman.
Initially inspired by his renowned teacher, Lamb started to move in the same artistic circles, becoming friends with writers, artists and benefactors such as Lytton Strachey, Virginia Woolf, Duncan Grant and Ottoline Morrell. Upon the tragic death of John’s wife Ida in Paris, Lamb became close to Dorelia McNeill, an art student who had been co-habiting with Augustus and Ida for the past year. Lamb had a frustratingly brief affair with Dorelia who he always secretly hoped would leave Augustus to be with him. Edie McNeill was Dorelia’s younger sister who would help look after the John family after Ida’s death. Lamb befriended her and subsequently drew and painted her portrait on numerous occasions. Keith Clements comments that 'one very lovely drawing of 1909 is especially characteristic of her and perfectly epitomises the period: dressed as if auditioning for Eliza Doolittle, or simply waiting in the wings of an Edwardian music-hall, from beneath the shadow of a large feather 'titfer' Edie pouts with indifference and stares vacantly past the artist' (K. Clements, Henry Lamb: The Artist and his Friends, Bristol, 1985, p. 97).
The drawing to which Clements refers (Tate) relates closely to the present work. The painting itself loses none of Edie’s look of disdainful indifference but is more considered in its handling. Edie’s flamboyant feather hat is retained as she sits in her deep purple dress and black jacket. The rich green background of the painting suggests the influence of formal 16th Century portraits. Edie sits resplendent and important, like a lady of the Renaissance, but for her “Edwardian music-hall’ attire. This combining of past artistic protocol with contemporary subjects is something at which Augustus John excelled, and was a technique popular with his Neo-Primitive Group contemporaries at the Slade School of Art.
The present work is a wonderful example of Lamb’s engagement with current artistic themes of the day and his technical ability to take these themes and combine them with a certain sardonic wit to create a masterfully insightful portrait of early 20th Century bohemia.
We are very grateful to Rebecca John for her assistance in preparing this catalogue entry.