Lot Essay
The picture was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1887, when Bramley was thirty. Born at Sibsey in Leicestershire, he had studied at Verlat's Academy in Antwerp in 1879-80. In 1882-3 he worked in Venice, and he made his debut at the R.A. in 1884 with two Venetian scenes. He settled at Newlyn in the winter of 1884-5, taking a tiny studio on the ground floor of a two-roomed thatched cottage. The basement was occupied by a Mrs. Barrett, who had lost her arms in an accident and looked after young children as well as running a small potato and turnip shop. The noise she made keeping her charges in order tried him severely. Our picture was painted in these difficult conditions, as was A Hopeless Dawn (Tate Gallery), a work of very different type, tragedy rather than comedy, that made his name when it was exhibited at the R.A. in 1888.
When 'Eyes and no Eyes' appeared there the previous year, it attracted the attention of F.G. Stephens, the veteran art critic of the Athenaeum. '"Eyes and no Eyes", a title which puzzles us', he wrote, 'is the name given by Mr. F. Bramley to a picture the best part of which is the distant calm sea, next in merit are the harbour and its buildings in vaporous sunlight'. The room contained its fair share of works by established artists, including Misery and Mercy by Frederick Goodall, an account of Christ's encounter with the woman taken in adultery which excited a good deal of comment, and Albert Moore's magnificent Midsummer (Russell-Cotes Art Gallery, Bournemouth). But there was also a significant number of examples of the new realism. In addition to Bramley, Sargent, Lavery, David Murray, Mark Fisher and Walter Osborne were represented. The Sargent was none other than 'Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose' (Tate Gallery), which caused a sensation and was bought for the Chantrey Bequest (as Hopeless Dawn was to be a year later). The juxtaposition of his work with Sargent's ('Eyes and no Eyes' was no.350, 'Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose', no.359) seems to have had a great impact on Bramley, whose later work shows the influence of Sargent's masterpiece. In 1894 Bramley and Sargent were both to be elected A.R.A., together with Arthur Hacker, J.M. Swan and the sculptor George Frampton.
'Eyes and no Eyes' is a good example of the square brush technique so closely associated with the Newlyn School. In fact Bramley was regarded as the technique's leading exponent, and continued to use it well into the 1890s, after it had been abandoned by most of his colleagues. It is equally noticeable in such contemporary works as 'Domino!' (Crawford Municipal Art Gallery, Cork), exhibited at the R.A. in 1886, and Weaving a Chain of Grief (private collection), which was seen at the New English Art Club the same year (1887) as 'Eyes and no Eyes' appeared at the Academy. For further discussion of the subject and photographs, see Painting in Newlyn 1880-1930, exh. Barbican Art Gallery, London, 1985, cat. pp.56, 74-5, 120-21.
We are very grateful to John Christian and Professor Kenneth McConkey for their assistance in cataloguing this lot
When 'Eyes and no Eyes' appeared there the previous year, it attracted the attention of F.G. Stephens, the veteran art critic of the Athenaeum. '"Eyes and no Eyes", a title which puzzles us', he wrote, 'is the name given by Mr. F. Bramley to a picture the best part of which is the distant calm sea, next in merit are the harbour and its buildings in vaporous sunlight'. The room contained its fair share of works by established artists, including Misery and Mercy by Frederick Goodall, an account of Christ's encounter with the woman taken in adultery which excited a good deal of comment, and Albert Moore's magnificent Midsummer (Russell-Cotes Art Gallery, Bournemouth). But there was also a significant number of examples of the new realism. In addition to Bramley, Sargent, Lavery, David Murray, Mark Fisher and Walter Osborne were represented. The Sargent was none other than 'Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose' (Tate Gallery), which caused a sensation and was bought for the Chantrey Bequest (as Hopeless Dawn was to be a year later). The juxtaposition of his work with Sargent's ('Eyes and no Eyes' was no.350, 'Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose', no.359) seems to have had a great impact on Bramley, whose later work shows the influence of Sargent's masterpiece. In 1894 Bramley and Sargent were both to be elected A.R.A., together with Arthur Hacker, J.M. Swan and the sculptor George Frampton.
'Eyes and no Eyes' is a good example of the square brush technique so closely associated with the Newlyn School. In fact Bramley was regarded as the technique's leading exponent, and continued to use it well into the 1890s, after it had been abandoned by most of his colleagues. It is equally noticeable in such contemporary works as 'Domino!' (Crawford Municipal Art Gallery, Cork), exhibited at the R.A. in 1886, and Weaving a Chain of Grief (private collection), which was seen at the New English Art Club the same year (1887) as 'Eyes and no Eyes' appeared at the Academy. For further discussion of the subject and photographs, see Painting in Newlyn 1880-1930, exh. Barbican Art Gallery, London, 1985, cat. pp.56, 74-5, 120-21.
We are very grateful to John Christian and Professor Kenneth McConkey for their assistance in cataloguing this lot