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Lot Essay
In the introduction to the 1972-1973 exhibition, Douglas Cooper writes, 'What subjects does Sutherland choose to paint and what meaning to they have for him? On the surface, it often seems as though a love of nature were dominant. But in reality this is not true, for through nature Sutherland always envisages some aspect of man, just as in his images of man, and especially his portraits, it has parallels with natural growth and deformation, with nature's ruses and the ravaging effects of the struggle for survival that Sutherland inevitably exposes. True, he is sometimes content to admire the opulence of nature, the shapely perfection of some organic growth, or the marvellous articulation and structure of the forms composing a landscape or the body of some animal. But he is more inclined to see through the lure of appearances to the ugly truth and hidden traps for the unwary that they mask' (op. cit. p. 11).
Sutherland visited Pembrokeshire for the first time in 1934 and, inspired by the landscape, began incorporating its elements in his work. In the late 1960s he revisited the area for the first time in over twenty years and the area around Milford Haven became the focus of much of his attention. The small estuaries at Sandy Haven and Picton in the southern part of the county fascinated him in particular. The series of paintings entitled Picton are based on an oak tree along the bank of the estuary, where the undercutting of the banks of soft shale by the tide has caused the trees to grow into an unusual variety of twisted shapes in order not to fall over. Sutherland said 'the trees are eroded by the tide and wind and they are small oaks, really: I suppose you would call them dwarf oaks. They have the most extraordinary beautiful, varied and rich shapes which detach them from their proper connotation as trees. One does not think of them so much as trees, more as figures; they have the same urgency that certain movements of figures can have in action [The Listener, XCVIII, 1977, p. 231] (see R. Alley, exhibition catalogue, Graham Sutherland, London, Tate Gallery, 1982, pp. 156-157).
Sutherland visited Pembrokeshire for the first time in 1934 and, inspired by the landscape, began incorporating its elements in his work. In the late 1960s he revisited the area for the first time in over twenty years and the area around Milford Haven became the focus of much of his attention. The small estuaries at Sandy Haven and Picton in the southern part of the county fascinated him in particular. The series of paintings entitled Picton are based on an oak tree along the bank of the estuary, where the undercutting of the banks of soft shale by the tide has caused the trees to grow into an unusual variety of twisted shapes in order not to fall over. Sutherland said 'the trees are eroded by the tide and wind and they are small oaks, really: I suppose you would call them dwarf oaks. They have the most extraordinary beautiful, varied and rich shapes which detach them from their proper connotation as trees. One does not think of them so much as trees, more as figures; they have the same urgency that certain movements of figures can have in action [The Listener, XCVIII, 1977, p. 231] (see R. Alley, exhibition catalogue, Graham Sutherland, London, Tate Gallery, 1982, pp. 156-157).