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Lot Essay
The sea and related marine subject matter became important motifs for Wadsworth. In 1918 he worked on dazzle-camouflage for ships in Bristol and Liverpool, in the 1920s he began working on a series of tempera harbour scenes and still life paintings, and in 1936 he was commissioned to paint two works for the first and cabin class Smoke Rooms for the new liner, Queen Mary.
Wadsworth's marine still lifes include a variety of objects, for example shells and nautical instruments. He had a collection of maritime equipment and other ephemera, which he would arrange in his studio and then paint from, including imaginary seascapes into the backgrounds. In these works particularly, Wadsworth demonstrated his knowledge and enthusiasm for European art trends, notably Surrealism. He had close associations with artists including de Chirico, Pierre Roy and Jean Metzinger, all of whom used a technique of enlarging objects in the foreground and therefore giving them a distorted emphasis. Wadsworth also shared with de Chirico the use of deep recessive space and strong lighting, which added a powerful sense of mystery to his paintings.
Painted in 1936, Perspective of Idleness I is typical of Wadsworth's later marine still lifes as the objects depicted seem to be imbued with a sense of weightlessness. The four floats literally float in the centre of the canvas while the curled clay pipes, themselves producers of a substance that momentarily drifts through the air before dispersing, hardly seem to touch the nails on which they rest. The inclusion of 'idleness' in the title itself indicates an effortlessness, while Wadsworth indicates the dual meaning of 'perspective' in this work.
Wadsworth's marine still lifes include a variety of objects, for example shells and nautical instruments. He had a collection of maritime equipment and other ephemera, which he would arrange in his studio and then paint from, including imaginary seascapes into the backgrounds. In these works particularly, Wadsworth demonstrated his knowledge and enthusiasm for European art trends, notably Surrealism. He had close associations with artists including de Chirico, Pierre Roy and Jean Metzinger, all of whom used a technique of enlarging objects in the foreground and therefore giving them a distorted emphasis. Wadsworth also shared with de Chirico the use of deep recessive space and strong lighting, which added a powerful sense of mystery to his paintings.
Painted in 1936, Perspective of Idleness I is typical of Wadsworth's later marine still lifes as the objects depicted seem to be imbued with a sense of weightlessness. The four floats literally float in the centre of the canvas while the curled clay pipes, themselves producers of a substance that momentarily drifts through the air before dispersing, hardly seem to touch the nails on which they rest. The inclusion of 'idleness' in the title itself indicates an effortlessness, while Wadsworth indicates the dual meaning of 'perspective' in this work.