Head of a Girl

Details

Mark Gertler (1891-1939)
Head of a Girl
signed and dated 'M. Gertler./Sep. 5. 1910' (lower left)
red chalk
9 x 8 in. (22.8 x 20.3 cm.)

Provenance

Paul Nash.
Paul Nash Trust; Christie's, London, 19 March 1971, lot 74.
Private collection, New York.

Literature

J. Woodeson, Mark Gertler: Biography of a painter, 1891-1939, London, 1972, p. 359.

Special Notice

These lots have been imported from outside the EU for sale using a Temporary Import regime. Import VAT is payable (at 5%) on the Hammer price. VAT is also payable (at 20%) on the buyer’s Premium on a VAT inclusive basis. When a buyer of such a lot has registered an EU address but wishes to export the lot or complete the import into another EU country, he must advise Christie's immediately after the auction.

Sale Room Notice

Please note that the present work was exhibited in February 1911 at the Friday Club Exhibition at the Alpine Gallery, London.

Brought to you by

Albany Bell

abell@christies.com +44 (0)20 7389 2738

Lot Essay

In Head of a Girl Gertler uses the soft shading and bold outline typical of the Slade during this period. The sanguine head of his mother, Golda (Victoria & Albert Museum) is from December of that year. Gertler received several prizes at the Slade during this period including first prize for drawing from the head, and careful draughtsmanship continued to underpin his work throughout his career.

The sitter in the present work is highly reminiscent of the girl in Study of a Girls' Head in Profile, 1911 (Whitworth, Manchester) and Head of a Girl, 1912 (Leeds City Art Gallery), and may have been a Jewish friend or neighbour in the East End, where Gertler was living at the time.

Paul Nash, the previous owner of Head of a Girl, attended the Slade for a year from the autumn of 1910. He recalled the Slade at that time: '[it] was in one of its periodical triumphal flows, when from the unknown deeps arise a few gifted ones. And now, upon the crest of the wave, were riding nearly half a dozen - Stanley Spencer, Mark Gertler, William Roberts, Edward Wadsworth, Charles Nevinson' (P. Nash, Outline, London, 1949, p. 90).

We are very grateful to Sarah MacDougall and Luke Gertler for their assistance in preparing this catalogue entry.

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