Gorse on Fire

Details

Graham Sutherland, O.M. (1903-1980)
Gorse on Fire
signed and dated 'Sutherland 1940.' (lower right) and inscribed 'Gorse on fire.' (on the backboard)
watercolour, bodycolour, brush, black ink and coloured crayon
27¼ x 19 in. (69.2 x 48.3 cm.)

Provenance

Hugh Walpole.
Mr and Mrs S. Samuels, Liverpool.
Acquired by the present owner in the 1980s.

Exhibited

London, Leicester Galleries, Exhibition of Works by Artists of Fame and Promise, July - August 1945, no. 98.
Manchester, City Art Gallery, Works of Art from Private Collections in the North West and North Wales, September - October 1960, no. 198.

Special notice

Artist's Resale Right ("Droit de Suite"). Artist's Resale Right Regulations 2006 apply to this lot, the buyer agrees to pay us an amount equal to the resale royalty provided for in those Regulations, and we undertake to the buyer to pay such amount to the artist's collection agent.

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Lot Essay

Sutherland's expressive depiction of the landscape during the Second World War hints at the sense of foreboding that he felt during those years. In the present work, the fire that is consuming the landscape suggests a threatening and menacing force against nature. The shape and form of the flames in Gorse on Fire are echoed in works such as Feeding a Steel Furnace, 1941-42 (Tate, London), and the subject matter relates to the iconic Gorse on Sea Wall, 1939 (National Museums, Northern Ireland).

Gorse on Fire was loaned by its then owners, Mr and Mrs S. Samuels, to the 1960 Manchester City Art Gallery exhibition. They loaned a number of works to the exhibition including pictures by Matthew Smith, Mark Gertler, Victor Pasmore, Walter Richard Sickert, Fernand Léger and Pierre-Auguste Renoir.

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