Lot Essay
Seago made eight major painting trips to France between 1951 and 1967, often crossing the channel is his yacht, Capricorn and winding his way along the Seine to Paris. There he moored in the heart of the city, within easy walking distance of some of his favourite subjects: the Champs Elysées, the Place de la Concorde and the Tuileries Gardens. The artist found the Champs Elysées a particularly engaging subject, 'For my part I was fascinated by the sunlight and shadow of those crowded walks beneath the chestnut trees, by the ever moving colourful pattern of men, women and children, dogs and perambulators, and the stream of smart limousines and yellow taxi-cabs which roared up the broad thoroughfare' (E. Seago, With Capricorn to Paris, London, 1956, pp. 89-90).
In his paintings of Paris, Seago managed to capture something of the city's joie-de-vivre. James Reid comments on these works, 'What furnished Seago's paintings of Paris with a particularly arresting quality was his treatment of figures. In the Tuileries Gardens, the Place de la Concorde and the Champs Elysées, people rendered with a few seemingly insouciant flicks of the wrist convey to perfection the local scene. Tall gentlemen in well-appointed outfits and with impeccably rolled umbrellas, fashionable young women in boldly striped or polka-dot dresses, groups in animated conversation, a lady walking her dog or pushing a perambulator - all are suggested, as is appropriate in a crowd scene, yet also remarkably individualized, so that each figure has its own specific personality' (Edward Seago The Landscape Art, London, 1991, p. 190).
A similar composition, Champs Elysées, Paris was sold in these Rooms, 5 November 1999, lot 113 for £76,300, a record price for the artist at auction.
In his paintings of Paris, Seago managed to capture something of the city's joie-de-vivre. James Reid comments on these works, 'What furnished Seago's paintings of Paris with a particularly arresting quality was his treatment of figures. In the Tuileries Gardens, the Place de la Concorde and the Champs Elysées, people rendered with a few seemingly insouciant flicks of the wrist convey to perfection the local scene. Tall gentlemen in well-appointed outfits and with impeccably rolled umbrellas, fashionable young women in boldly striped or polka-dot dresses, groups in animated conversation, a lady walking her dog or pushing a perambulator - all are suggested, as is appropriate in a crowd scene, yet also remarkably individualized, so that each figure has its own specific personality' (Edward Seago The Landscape Art, London, 1991, p. 190).
A similar composition, Champs Elysées, Paris was sold in these Rooms, 5 November 1999, lot 113 for £76,300, a record price for the artist at auction.