Christopher Wood (1901-1930)
PROPERTY FROM THE PETER LANGAN COLLECTION
Christopher Wood (1901-1930)

Cornish Fisherman in a Cap

Details
Christopher Wood (1901-1930)
Cornish Fisherman in a Cap
oil on canvas laid on board
10 x 17½ in. (25.4 x 44.5 cm.)
Painted in 1928-30.
Provenance
Sir James Dunnett.
Purchased by the present owner at the 1985 exhibition.
Literature
E. Newton, Christopher Wood, London, 1938, p. 74, no. 398.
Exhibition catalogue, Spring 1985, London, Fine Art Society, 1985, no. 38, illustrated.
H. Gresty, exhibition catalogue, Christopher Wood: The Last Years, 1928-1930, Penzance, Newlyn Art Gallery, 1989, pp. 9, 17-19, no. 23, illustrated: this exhibition travelled to Sheffield, Graves Art Gallery, December 1989 - January 1990; Swansea, Glynn Vivian Art Gallery, January - March 1990; and Cambridge, Kettle's Yard, March - April 1990.
Exhibited
London, New Burlington Galleries, Christopher Wood: Exhibition of Complete Works, March - April 1938, no. 224.
London, Fine Art Society, Spring 1985, April - May 1985, no. 38.
Penzance, Newlyn Art Gallery, Christopher Wood: The Last Years, 1928-1930, October - November 1989, no. 23: this exhibition travelled to Sheffield, Graves Art Gallery, December 1989 - January 1990; Swansea, Glynn Vivian Art Gallery, January - March 1990; and Cambridge, Kettle's Yard, March - April 1990.
Sale room notice
Please note that the correct medium for the present work is oil on paper laid on board, and not as stated in the cataogue.

Brought to you by

André Zlattinger
André Zlattinger

Lot Essay

Christopher Wood spent the summer of 1928 in Paris, before visiting Cornwall to stay with his close friends the artists Ben and Winifred Nicholson. They were holidaying at Pill Creek near Feock, when the trio took a day-trip to St Ives where they encountered the seaman turned painter, Alfred Wallis. The discovery of this primitive genius had a profound effect on the art of all three: as Winifred Nicholson recalled, 'One only finds the influences one was looking for and I was certainly looking for that one'.

After the Nicholsons' return to London, Wood stayed on until the winter, moving to a cottage on Porthmeor Beach. From here he wrote enthusiastically to Winifred of the Cornish fishermen, 'they look like pirates with big jack boots up to their thighs and skin hats with wings to them like Mercury' (see H. Gresty, loc. cit.).

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