The Smoke

Details

Humphrey Jennings (1907-1950)
The Smoke
signed and dated 'Humphrey Jennings 1949' (lower left), inscribed and dated again '1949/The Smoke' (on the reverse) and with studio stamp (on the reverse)
watercolour, unframed
13½ x 20 in. (34.3 x 51.4 cm.)

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Lot Essay

The use of pencil and watercolour is particularly appropriate for emphasizing the blurring of the contours of reality. Smoke tends to efface the clear identity of objects and neutralizes the difference between them, whatever they may be. Like the other three works which bear the same title, this is emblematic of Jennings's post-war approach to reality, probably the result of a disappointment with that reality, consequent on the war.

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