Lot Essay
Stanley Spencer probably painted 'Gypsophila' in Cookham during the summer of 1934. His dealer, Dudley Tooth, subsequently reported late in August that a client was "looking" at the painting, and on the 19th September, Tooth was able to report that he had "already sold" the work. It is therefore likely that the painting sold only a short time after Spencer sent it up to London. In fact 'Gypsophila' was the kind of painting which Dudley Tooth found relatively easy to sell in the uncertain art market of the early nineteen-thirties. For Spencer, this meant the possibility of a regular income at a time when his figure paintings were becoming too "difficult" both in form and content to attract many interested patrons. Indeed the market for his landscape and still-life paintings was so good that he frequently complained that he did not have enough time to work on the large series of figure paintings which he was planning at this time.
'Gypsophila' is a good example of the combined still-life and landscape painting which became a Spencer speciality during the early nineteen-thirties. Spencer insisted on painting from life so there was often a scramble to complete the main details of the painting before flowers died or foliage changed colour. In some cases the colour tones of paintings changed to follow seasonal developments in his botanical subjects. Paintings like 'Gypsophila' were painted either in the garden of Lindworth, Spencer's house, or in the gardens of other houses around Cookham, the lanes around the village, or on Cookham Moor. Spencer also took advantage of visits to other parts of the country to vary his subjects occasionally. At times Spencer was so heavily engaged in "the doing of landscapes" that he informed Dudley Tooth, "when I do them they absorb every bit of my energy and concentration". This at times led to disagreements between the artist and his dealer over where the priority between landscape and figure paintings should be.
We are grateful to Professor Keith Bell for his help in cataloguing this lot which will be included in his forthcoming catalogue raisonne
'Gypsophila' is a good example of the combined still-life and landscape painting which became a Spencer speciality during the early nineteen-thirties. Spencer insisted on painting from life so there was often a scramble to complete the main details of the painting before flowers died or foliage changed colour. In some cases the colour tones of paintings changed to follow seasonal developments in his botanical subjects. Paintings like 'Gypsophila' were painted either in the garden of Lindworth, Spencer's house, or in the gardens of other houses around Cookham, the lanes around the village, or on Cookham Moor. Spencer also took advantage of visits to other parts of the country to vary his subjects occasionally. At times Spencer was so heavily engaged in "the doing of landscapes" that he informed Dudley Tooth, "when I do them they absorb every bit of my energy and concentration". This at times led to disagreements between the artist and his dealer over where the priority between landscape and figure paintings should be.
We are grateful to Professor Keith Bell for his help in cataloguing this lot which will be included in his forthcoming catalogue raisonne