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Lot Essay
During the 1890s Lavery's dealer in Glasgow, Thomas Lawrie, staged a number of what he referred to as 'Fair Women' exhibitions - paintings of head studies of female models by members of the Glasgow School. His title was taken from Tennyson's 'dream of fair women', and Lavery was one of his principal contributors. Nora, painted at the point when the painter was moving to London represents his current favourite model, Nora Johnson. It demonstrates that around 1898, when Lavery was in close contact with Whistler in the formation of the International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers - they were President and Vice-President respectively - the relationship between the two men was more than a business one. The younger artist was fascinated by Whistler's tireless search for perfection in his late head studies, while the older admired Lavery's spontaneity - as discussion during the early stages of Père et Fille (Muse d'Orsay, Paris) indicates. Both artists adopted the practice of scraping down the paint surface with a palette knife and constantly repainting in order to achieve the effect of a ghostly figure emerging from the background. In the present instance, it was so subtle that The Art Journal refused to illustrate it. ACR Carter, its correspondent noted,
His well-known portrait Nora is typical of his class but its extremely delicate nuances of tone forbid reproduction. Although it is to be seen that there is plenty of paint used in surface registration the result is so subtle and diaphanous that the effect seems as if colouring lay beneath the canvas. It is no secret that this portrait frequently won the admiration of Mr Whistler.
During these years, prior to the arrival of Mary Auras, Nora posed for many pictures, the largest of which, Miss Nora Johnson, was sold as A Lady seated on a sofa (Christie's, 9 May 1996). She also appears in White Feathers, 1899 (Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney). Others such as A Lady in Pink, A Lady in Purple and A Scotch Lady remain unlocated and may have been destroyed. The present canvas was however, the most admired outcome of this experimental phase of Lavery's career.
KMc.
His well-known portrait Nora is typical of his class but its extremely delicate nuances of tone forbid reproduction. Although it is to be seen that there is plenty of paint used in surface registration the result is so subtle and diaphanous that the effect seems as if colouring lay beneath the canvas. It is no secret that this portrait frequently won the admiration of Mr Whistler.
During these years, prior to the arrival of Mary Auras, Nora posed for many pictures, the largest of which, Miss Nora Johnson, was sold as A Lady seated on a sofa (Christie's, 9 May 1996). She also appears in White Feathers, 1899 (Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney). Others such as A Lady in Pink, A Lady in Purple and A Scotch Lady remain unlocated and may have been destroyed. The present canvas was however, the most admired outcome of this experimental phase of Lavery's career.
KMc.