Cigale II

Details

Graham Sutherland, O.M. (1903-1980)
Cigale II
signed and dated 'Sutherland 1948' (upper left)
oil on canvas
22 x 18½ in. (55.9 x 47 cm.)

Provenance

Charles Balles Rogers, Minneapolis, by whom purchased at the 1948 exhibition.
with Bucholz Gallery Curt Valentin, New York.
with Marlborough Fine Art, London,
Mr and Mrs Peter Adam, London.
with Joseph Wolpe, Cape Town.
with Galleria de Foscherari, Bologna.

Literature

D. Cooper, The Work of Graham Sutherland, London, 1961, p.78, no. 98a.
F. Arcangeli, Graham Sutherland, Milan, 1973, p. 35, no. 71, illustrated,
D. Cooper, F. Russoli and V. Viale, exhibition catalogue, Sutherland, Turin, Galleria Civica d'Arte Moderna, 1986, p. 144, illustrated.

Exhibited

London, Hanover Gallery, Paintings by Graham Sutherland, June - July 1948, no. 27.
Boston, Institute of Contemporary Arts, Graham Sutherland - Henry Moore, April 1953, no. 15: this exhibition toured to The Seattle Art Museum; The Los Angeles County Museum; the M.H. De Young Memorial Museum, San Fransisco; The Vancouver Art Gallery; The Akron Art Institute; The Museum of Fine Arts of Houston; The Lowe Gallery; Coral Gabler; FLA; the Phillips Gallery, Washington, D.C. until Spring 1954.
Turin, Galleria Civica d'Arte Moderne, Sutherland, October - November 1965, no. 57.

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium, which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

Lot Essay

Sutherland made his first visit to the South of France in 1947 and bought a house at Menton in 1955, thereafter spending much of his time in France. This move led to the use of more brilliant colours and a preoccupation with Mediterranean motifs such as vine pergolas, palm palisades, cacti and cicadas. The present work and Cigale I, also painted in 1948, were Sutherland's first oil paintings of animals. Both have an heraldic character and show the cicada perched side-on in silhouette on a sort of plinth, in a boldly patterned design. The background to Cigale I is a bold scarlet and green, and quite unrealistic (see R. Alley, exhibition catalogue, Graham Sutherland, London, Tate Gallery, 1982, pp. 115-116).

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