.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
De László painted this portrait during a period of intense work as he re-established his practice after the disruption of the First World War.
Winnifred Camilla Challis was born in 1891 to Edward Beardmore Challis and his wife Emma Alice. By 1911 she and her family had moved to Lancing and she began her career as a concert singer on the stage of the Worthing Pavilion. She made her London stage debut in See-Saw in 1916 and travelled to Paris to appear in Zig-Zag at the Follies-Berères just after the end of the war. She met her husband when they co-starred in Whirled into Happiness at the Lyric Theatre in London.
The sitter had retired from the stage for three years at the start of her marriage but returned in 1926 and subsequently joined the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company as principal soprano in 1929. The company staged Gilbert and Sullivan operas at the Savoy in London.
We are grateful to Katherine Field for writing the catalogue entry for this portrait, which will be included in the Philip de László catalogue raisonné, currently presented in progress online.
The Hon. Mrs de Laszlo and a team of editors are compiling the catalogue raisonné of the artist's entire oeuvre. Katherine Field is the British and Canadian Editor. Please see www.delaszloarchivetrust.com or contact catalogue@delaszlo.com for more information or to offer any contribution.
Winnifred Camilla Challis was born in 1891 to Edward Beardmore Challis and his wife Emma Alice. By 1911 she and her family had moved to Lancing and she began her career as a concert singer on the stage of the Worthing Pavilion. She made her London stage debut in See-Saw in 1916 and travelled to Paris to appear in Zig-Zag at the Follies-Berères just after the end of the war. She met her husband when they co-starred in Whirled into Happiness at the Lyric Theatre in London.
The sitter had retired from the stage for three years at the start of her marriage but returned in 1926 and subsequently joined the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company as principal soprano in 1929. The company staged Gilbert and Sullivan operas at the Savoy in London.
We are grateful to Katherine Field for writing the catalogue entry for this portrait, which will be included in the Philip de László catalogue raisonné, currently presented in progress online.
The Hon. Mrs de Laszlo and a team of editors are compiling the catalogue raisonné of the artist's entire oeuvre. Katherine Field is the British and Canadian Editor. Please see www.delaszloarchivetrust.com or contact catalogue@delaszlo.com for more information or to offer any contribution.