Aphrodite

Details

Glyn Philpot, R.A. (1884-1937)
Aphrodite
signed with initials 'G.P.' (lower right)
oil on canvas
57 x 38 in. (145 x 96.5 cm.)
Painted in 1932

Provenance

The artist, and by descent.

Literature

R. Gibson, Glyn Philpot 1884-1937, National Gallery exhibition catalogue, London, 1985, pp. 27, 29, 73, fig. 21.

Exhibited

London, Royal Academy, 1932, no. 649.

Special notice

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Lot Essay

The present work was painted in Paris while Philpot was undergoing lonely seclusion and a form of spiritual crisis. 'Aphrodite' and 'Ascending Angel', a painting from 1931, prompted the headline 'Glyn Philpot 'Goes Picasso'' from The Scotsman, in a review of the 1932 exhibition at the Royal Academy (30 April 1932). The critic went onto comment that seeing such pictures 'in so conservative an Academy as this makes one rub one's eyes in wonderment' (see R. Gibson, loc. cit.).

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