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拍品專文
After a disappointing trip to Russia in 1933 Bomberg decided to return to a country that had previously been a huge inspiration to him and, in summer 1934, he set off with Lilian to Cuenca, Spain.
During his previous Spanish trip Bomberg had spent a productive winter at Toledo, painting over twenty canvases of the city and surrounding landscape, including Toledo from the Alcazar (sold in these rooms for a world record price, 10 June 2005, lot 78). The dramatic location of the town of Cuenca inspired Bomberg to produce works in which the surrounding landscape gained a greater emphasis.
This absorption of buildings into a dramatic setting can be seen also in the magnificent works that Bomberg produced after he had travelled south to Ronda. This Spanish town was built within an extraordinary landscape. Perched high up in the Andalucian mountiains, the town is literally sliced in two by a gorge that drops four hundred feet below and joining the two halves is the Puente Nuevo, 'New Bridge', that was built in 1751, taking 42 years to complete. Bomberg later described Ronda as 'the most interesting of the towns of Southern Spain' and it proved to be a huge inspiration to him. He explored the surrounding countryside on a donkey, finding suitable vantage points from which to study and paint this remarkable town. He wrote, 'Leaving my house above, I would sometimes wind my way down the old Moorish path of the edge of the ravine and cross the cultivated valley, climbing up again through the olive groves on the slopes of the opposite ledge, on the afternoons of brilliant Andalusian spring days. Then I would forget everything but the ancient city on its glowing rock until the chill of the mountain shadow touched me - the sun had gone - Ronda was in afterglow and I was packing up to go home. This time, too dangerous to climb down the rocky sharp in the dark, I would prefer to share the roadway home with the peasants and their goats; all of us making for the warmth of the brazier fires of Ronda' (quoted in W. Lipke, David Bomberg: a critical study of his life and work, London, 1967, pp. 78-9).
The present work demonstrates the fascination that Bomberg felt for Ronda. The viewpoint of the painting looks up the gorge to the ancient bridge, the buildings perching high above, on the edge of the steep rocky mass. Richard Cork comments on this work, 'Most of the time, he [Bomberg] favoured a more summary and untrammelled approach, so that the thickness of the pigment in 'Ronda: In the Gorge of the Tajo' takes on more of a life of its own. Although still allied to Bomberg's momentous encounter with the motif, the handling in this superb painting is characterised by a quite personal deployment of tumultuous mark-making and a readiness to emphasize the material substance of pigment more insistently than ever' (op. cit, p. 32).
Cork also explains how the morphology of the Ronda landscape had a profound effect on the 'volcanic' side of Bomberg's temperament: 'Perched on its craggy plateau of rock, and split by a deep ravine, Ronda fired Bomberg to incorporate an apprehension of seismic violence in the work he produced there [Ronda: In the Gorge of the Tajo]. His paintings are charged now with an awareness of the landscape's explosive potential. Far from retaining a safe distance from the motif and studying it with objective reticence he entered into a wholehearted engagement with a world riven by convulsive geological stress' (op. cit., p. 101).
After a six month stay, the Ronda paintings were sent to England and the family travelled further south to the Austrian mountains in July 1935. In November the family beat a hasty retreat in order to catch the last boat to England before the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War.
During his previous Spanish trip Bomberg had spent a productive winter at Toledo, painting over twenty canvases of the city and surrounding landscape, including Toledo from the Alcazar (sold in these rooms for a world record price, 10 June 2005, lot 78). The dramatic location of the town of Cuenca inspired Bomberg to produce works in which the surrounding landscape gained a greater emphasis.
This absorption of buildings into a dramatic setting can be seen also in the magnificent works that Bomberg produced after he had travelled south to Ronda. This Spanish town was built within an extraordinary landscape. Perched high up in the Andalucian mountiains, the town is literally sliced in two by a gorge that drops four hundred feet below and joining the two halves is the Puente Nuevo, 'New Bridge', that was built in 1751, taking 42 years to complete. Bomberg later described Ronda as 'the most interesting of the towns of Southern Spain' and it proved to be a huge inspiration to him. He explored the surrounding countryside on a donkey, finding suitable vantage points from which to study and paint this remarkable town. He wrote, 'Leaving my house above, I would sometimes wind my way down the old Moorish path of the edge of the ravine and cross the cultivated valley, climbing up again through the olive groves on the slopes of the opposite ledge, on the afternoons of brilliant Andalusian spring days. Then I would forget everything but the ancient city on its glowing rock until the chill of the mountain shadow touched me - the sun had gone - Ronda was in afterglow and I was packing up to go home. This time, too dangerous to climb down the rocky sharp in the dark, I would prefer to share the roadway home with the peasants and their goats; all of us making for the warmth of the brazier fires of Ronda' (quoted in W. Lipke, David Bomberg: a critical study of his life and work, London, 1967, pp. 78-9).
The present work demonstrates the fascination that Bomberg felt for Ronda. The viewpoint of the painting looks up the gorge to the ancient bridge, the buildings perching high above, on the edge of the steep rocky mass. Richard Cork comments on this work, 'Most of the time, he [Bomberg] favoured a more summary and untrammelled approach, so that the thickness of the pigment in 'Ronda: In the Gorge of the Tajo' takes on more of a life of its own. Although still allied to Bomberg's momentous encounter with the motif, the handling in this superb painting is characterised by a quite personal deployment of tumultuous mark-making and a readiness to emphasize the material substance of pigment more insistently than ever' (op. cit, p. 32).
Cork also explains how the morphology of the Ronda landscape had a profound effect on the 'volcanic' side of Bomberg's temperament: 'Perched on its craggy plateau of rock, and split by a deep ravine, Ronda fired Bomberg to incorporate an apprehension of seismic violence in the work he produced there [Ronda: In the Gorge of the Tajo]. His paintings are charged now with an awareness of the landscape's explosive potential. Far from retaining a safe distance from the motif and studying it with objective reticence he entered into a wholehearted engagement with a world riven by convulsive geological stress' (op. cit., p. 101).
After a six month stay, the Ronda paintings were sent to England and the family travelled further south to the Austrian mountains in July 1935. In November the family beat a hasty retreat in order to catch the last boat to England before the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War.