Abstract in Brown, White, Pink and Ochre

Details

Victor Pasmore, R.A. (1908-1998)
Abstract in Brown, White, Pink and Ochre
signed with initials 'VP' (lower right)
oil on board
18¼ x 28¼ in. (46.3 x 71.8 cm.) central panel; 27 x 33 in. (68.6 x 84 cm.) overall
Painted in 1951-52

Provenance

with Arthur Tooth & Sons, London, where purchased by the present owner in May 1959.

Literature

L. Alloway, Nine Abstract Artists, London, 1954, pl. 45.
Arts Digest, XXIX, 15 March 1955, p. 9.
A. Bowness and L. Lambertini, Victor Pasmore, London, 1980, no. 173, p. 103 (illustrated).

Exhibited

London, Institute of Contemporary Arts, Victor Pasmore Paintings and Construction 1944-1954, March-May 1954, no. 22 as Oval Motif No. 2, 1951.
Cambridge, Arts Council Gallery, Victor Pasmore: Selected Works 1926-1954, March 1955, no. 29.
London, Redfern Gallery, Victor Pasmore, June 1955, no. 16.
London, Arts Council Gallery, Three Masters of Modern British Painting, 1958, no. 37 as Oval Motif in White, Brown, Pink and Maroon.
London, Arthur Tooth, Today and Yesterday, February 1959, no. 7.
London, Tate Gallery, Victor Pasmore Retrospective Exhibition 1925-65, May-June 1965, no. 103.
Bradford, Cartwright Hall, Arts Council of Great Britain, Victor Pasmore, February-March 1980, no. 22, p. 23 illustrated: this exhibition travelled to Liverpool, Walker Art Gallery, March-May 1980; Norwich, University of East Anglia, Sainsbury Centre, May-June 1980; Leicester, Leicestershire Museum and Art Gallery, June-July 1980; Newcastle upon Tyne, Laing Art Gallery, July-August 1980; and London, Royal Academy, Diploma Galleries, September-October 1980.

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

Lot Essay

Born in Chelsham, Surrey and educated at Harrow, Pasmore only became a professional painter in 1938. Initially inspired by the legacy of the impressionists and the teachings of the post-impressionists and fauves, Pasmore soon became lured by the new expressive possibilities and intellectual challenge offered by cubist and abstract art.

In 1951 Pasmore took a further step in his rejection of traditional modes of representation, the use of the oval indicative of his growing dissatisfaction with the closed rectangle of easel painting. Pasmore's almost obsessive regeneration of style and technique throughout his career reflects his voracious appetite for the challenge of expressing abstraction.

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