Portrait of Laurie Lee

Details

Anthony Devas, A.R.A. (1911-1958)
Portrait of Laurie Lee
signed 'Devas' (lower right) and inscribed 'Laurie Lee Carlylye Sq' (on the canvasfold)
oil on canvas
20 x 16 in. (50.8 x 40.7 cm.)

Provenance

Sacha Devas.

Exhibited

Sheffield, Graves Art Gallery, Anthony Devas 1911-1958: a Family
Circle, 1991, no. 33.
Tenby, Tenby Museum and Picture Gallery, Anthony Devas - Family and
Friends in Tenby 1945-55, no. 6.

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

Laurie Lee met Anthony Devas and his wife Nicolette in the summer of 1944; they were then living in Markham Square, Chelsea, and Lee asked on several occasions if he could become their lodger. After a short period, Lee moved into the studio on the top floor, and the painter and writer swiftly became firm friends. At Markham Square, Devas painted several portraits of Lee (one of which is exhibited at the National Portrait Gallery, London, NPG L197). In 1945 the Devas family moved to Carlyle Square, where Lee stayed until his marriage to Kathy Polge in 1950, and where this portrait was painted.

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