Early Morning, Tangier

'The year 1911 was a particularly active one for Lavery, following his highly successful solo exhibition in 1910 at the Venice Biennale. The early months were spent at his Tangier retreat, Dar-el-Midfah, where he produced a number of important landscapes, several of which were shown at the Royal Academy, and at his retrospective exhibition at the Grosvenor Galleries in 1914. Lavery's attachment with North Africa, and especially with what was known as 'the White City', had begun in 1891 when he first painted scenes of arab life and views from the rooftops at Tangier. With the exception of the years of the Great War, he remained a regular visitor up until 1920.

The present example shows a view looking north-east towards the Straits of Gibraltar in early morning light. It compares with Evening - Tangier, the small sketch sold in these Rooms on 20 May 1999, lot 53, in which an equally dramatic cloudy sky sweeps over the landscape. In the present example the hillside is handled with Lavery's customary economy. Short staccato brushstrokes serve to describe its contours and undulations in a free and informal application of paint reminiscent of the work of other British Impressionists, such as Philip Wilson Steer'.
(Professor Kenneth McConkey, private correspondence, 1999).

We are very grateful to Professor Kenneth McConkey for his assistance in preparing this catalogue entry.