Lot Essay
Gertler wrote to Dora Carrington of the present work in Dec. 1919: 'It was characteristic of you not to turn up ... I was disappointed, because I have been wanting you so much to see my latest two pictures, so much so in fact that, in spite of several letters from its owner demanding one of them, I have kept it still, hoping you would turn up soon. You see the first one of the two was bought by Siegfried Sassoon ... You see that little 'horse' that you saw at Garsington was the first step to a new 'ladder', which seems to me an important one and likely to last, perhaps even the beginning to my final path. And these two, (1) Bathers, (2) 'Petruska', seem to me important evidence of the fact and important also in enabling you to understand the work to come. The important thing really is that I have at last evolved a sort of charcoal drawing which is so explanatory to me that I can paint almost the whole picture afterwards from it. You will remember having seen the charcoal drawing of the 'Bathers' at Garsington. Well, I intend, for your sake, to keep back the 'Bathers' until the end of next week, though I've heard again from Sassoon today - so if you can possibly come here by then, do'.
(see N. Carrington, Mark Gertler Selected Letters, London, 1965, pp.176-77).
(see N. Carrington, Mark Gertler Selected Letters, London, 1965, pp.176-77).