Still life with clay figure

Details

Sir Matthew Smith (1879-1959)
Still life with clay figure
signed with initials 'MS' (lower left)
oil on canvas
28½ x 45½ in. (72.5 x 115.5 cm.)
Painted circa 1938-39.

Provenance

The Elsie Perrin Williams Memorial Art Museum, London, Canada.
with New Art Centre, London.
with Agnew's, London.

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Lot Essay

The present work is from a series of large format still life paintings produced between 1937 and 1939, some of which are numbered by the artist. Numbered paintings from this group are in the collections of Tate Britain, the Corporation of London, and Southampton Art Gallery.

The works are composed around a full length clay figure that Smith made of his unattainable model, Christiane. Smith was influenced by the work of Cézanne when creating these paintings (see M. Yorke, Matthew Smith His Life and Reputation, London, 1997, p. 161).

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