Lot Essay
This is one of an extended series of paintings of Mollie Hitchens and their son John, the general title of which is ‘John by Jordan’, Jordan being the name for the old tin bath the family used and kept beneath the caravan, and in which John (weather permitting) was bathed in the garden. A perfect mother and child subject, the garden setting hints at a kind of Golden Age innocence, where the family are at one with nature. Both figures are naked, embowered in foliage, surrounded by decorative swirls and joyous streamers of paint. The painting is vigorously and freshly brushed, delighting in colour and pattern, the blue towel being a particularly vibrant passage. A splendid example of a key subject.
A.L.