.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
The artists' studios at 77 Bedford Gardens, London, where Colquhoun and Robert MacBryde were based from 1941 became a hub of artistic activity and the Polish artist, Jankel Adler, took a studio there in 1943. He became a huge influence on the two Roberts, bringing a fresh European approach to their painting and breaking them away from their previous involvement in Neo-Romanticism. Colquhoun was particularly influence by Adler and this can be seen in the present work.
In the only interview Colquhoun gave, he commented, 'Each painting is a kind of discovery, a discovery of new forms, colour relation, or balance in composition. With every painting completed, the artist may change his viewpoint to suit the discoveries made, making his vision many sided. Figures and objects in modern paintings may appear distorted. There will be those who seek a factual resemblance or a mirror-like reflection. The special forms, evolved from the relation of colour masses, line and composition, to express the painter's relation to objects, will be the reason for a painting's existence' (Picture Post, 42, no. 11, March 1949).
In the only interview Colquhoun gave, he commented, 'Each painting is a kind of discovery, a discovery of new forms, colour relation, or balance in composition. With every painting completed, the artist may change his viewpoint to suit the discoveries made, making his vision many sided. Figures and objects in modern paintings may appear distorted. There will be those who seek a factual resemblance or a mirror-like reflection. The special forms, evolved from the relation of colour masses, line and composition, to express the painter's relation to objects, will be the reason for a painting's existence' (Picture Post, 42, no. 11, March 1949).