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Lot Essay
While Euan Uglow is best known for his exacting and rigorously structured portraits and nudes, he also pursued still life painting with dedication throughout his career. Still Life with Rose and Pitcher (circa 1957) belongs to the artist’s most formative – and arguably most successful – period, at a time when he moved beyond the Cézanne-inspired experimentation of his Camberwell years to the establishment of his own personal idiom.
The rose as motif had already appeared in Uglow’s oeuvre, most notably in his earlier still life Rose (1952). Heavily admired for its compositional clarity, this painting was purchased by fellow Camberwell student J.M. Baron. Uglow takes simplicity of structure even further in the present work, paring the rose and pitcher down to their bare essentials, and creating dialogue between object and vessel. Of course, that which may seem simple or random is often not: Uglow was known to collect pitchers and vases, selecting them with precision for use in his studio. Here, the soft points on the pitcher’s handle beautifully mirror the rose’s sharpness and the spiky leaves. In fact, the objects in their totality are invested with an exactitude which masterfully contrasts the intuitive and expressive brushwork of the background, where gentle tonal variations of pink and grey provide depth and light to the composition. We are left with a lingering balance of precision and spontaneity, exemplifying Uglow’s developing mastery of the still life genre.
The rose as motif had already appeared in Uglow’s oeuvre, most notably in his earlier still life Rose (1952). Heavily admired for its compositional clarity, this painting was purchased by fellow Camberwell student J.M. Baron. Uglow takes simplicity of structure even further in the present work, paring the rose and pitcher down to their bare essentials, and creating dialogue between object and vessel. Of course, that which may seem simple or random is often not: Uglow was known to collect pitchers and vases, selecting them with precision for use in his studio. Here, the soft points on the pitcher’s handle beautifully mirror the rose’s sharpness and the spiky leaves. In fact, the objects in their totality are invested with an exactitude which masterfully contrasts the intuitive and expressive brushwork of the background, where gentle tonal variations of pink and grey provide depth and light to the composition. We are left with a lingering balance of precision and spontaneity, exemplifying Uglow’s developing mastery of the still life genre.