Dorothea Sharp (1874-1955)
Artist's Resale Right ("Droit de Suite"). Artist's… Read more
Dorothea Sharp (1874-1955)

A day by the sea

Details
Dorothea Sharp (1874-1955)
A day by the sea
signed 'DOROTHEA SHARP' (lower left)
oil on canvas
30 x 38 in. (76.2 x 96.5 cm.)
c. 1914
Provenance
P. Shea, London.
with Alex Fraser Galleries, Vancouver, until 1984, when purchased by a Private Collector, U.S.A.
Special notice
Artist's Resale Right ("Droit de Suite"). Artist's Resale Right Regulations 2006 apply to this lot, the buyer agrees to pay us an amount equal to the resale royalty provided for in those Regulations, and we undertake to the buyer to pay such amount to the artist's collection agent. These lots have been imported from outside the EU for sale using a Temporary Import regime. Import VAT is payable (at 5%) on the Hammer price. VAT is also payable (at 20%) on the buyer’s Premium on a VAT inclusive basis. When a buyer of such a lot has registered an EU address but wishes to export the lot or complete the import into another EU country, he must advise Christie's immediately after the auction.
Sale room notice
Please see www.christies.com for a note on this painting.

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Brandon Lindberg
Brandon Lindberg

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Lot Essay

A feeling of well-being and tranquillity is so typical of the paintings by Dorothea Sharp. Her aim was to make the world a better place by accentuating the positive and innocent side of life so perfectly represented by children and adults in a relaxed atmosphere. In A day by the sea a gentle breeze lifts the tent flaps and the children’s towel whilst the two adults rest in the welcome shade. They are on a beach in the Languedoc region of Southern France. The red and white stripes of the deck chair and the child’s bathing suit, together with the straw hat laid nonchalantly aside, suggest that this warm sunny day is for rest and enjoyment.

The foreground figure was probably created from oil studies of a friend or life model. A similar figure appears in a painting Under the shadow of the tent, 1914, by the Canadian artist Helen Galloway McNicoll, (1879-1915), R.B.A. Sharp and McNicoll were friends and painting companions until McNicoll’s death at the age of 35. The figure in the deck chair is an image of the artist Marcella Claudia Heber Smith, (1887-1963), R.I., R.B.A., R.M.S., V.P.S.W.A., whom Dorothea met in about 1913.

It is interesting to note that although one of the children wears a bathing costume, the adults are well-covered. In a long-sleeved, full length dress Marcella also wears dark stockings and shoes in order to retain a sense of decorum.

We are grateful to Helen Entwisle, author of Rock Pools & Sunshine, the Biography of Dorothea Sharp, for cataloguing this work.

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