作品描述 |
nullLandscape with Rocks
signed 'Sutherland' (lower right)
oil on canvas
38.2 x 46.1 cm. (15 1/8 x ...
nullLandscape with Rocks
signed 'Sutherland' (lower right)
oil on canvas
38.2 x 46.1 cm. (15 1/8 x 18 1/8 in.)Provenance
With Marlborough Gallery, London, February 1979, where acquired by the late husband of the present owner
Private Collection, U.K.
Sutherland revisited Pembrokeshire in 1967 for the first time for over twenty years. Fascinated once again by the distinctive landscape of the area, he returned there in 1968 for a longer visit and his work from then on was again devoted mainly to Pembrokeshire themes, especially motifs taken from the small estuaries in the southern part of the county. Tonally the present work is comparable to several oils located as Picton, however Sutherland's given title is ambiguous.
Whilst the works of this period retain the neo-romantic underpinnings of Sutherlands paintings of the 1930s and 40s, as John Hayes notes 'he became more and more concerned with symmetry and control as he got older' (John Hayes, The Art of Graham Sutherland, Phaidon, Oxford, p.161). In the present work, this control is manifested by Sutherland's approach to the circular motifs. Each of the orbs forming the foliage above the horizon and the two boulders at either side of the composition has a pin-prick at its centre, suggesting the use of a drawing compass to achieve perfect circles. Although in parts Sutherland has deviated from their precise lines, the introduction of such pure forms framed by the symmetrical proportions of golden sky and pink ground, create a highly balanced and rhythmic picture.
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