Crofts Lane, Letchworth

Spencer Gore and his wife Mollie spent four months at Harold Gilman’s home in Letchworth Garden City between August and November 1912. It was here that Gore’s first child, Elizabeth, was born. Gilman had lent them the house while he was away in Sweden following the collapse of his marriage to Grace Canedy. Gore’s Letchworth period marked a radical turning point in his work. The twenty-three paintings he produced there reveal a bold shift towards a more resolutely modern style, marking a significant departure from the impressionist sensibility that had coloured his Mornington Crescent period. These later paintings – with their vivid palettes, simplification of forms and subtle angularity – all point to the partial influences of Cubism and Fauvism. Crofts Lane, Letchworth, in particular, displays a certain fascination with geometry and pattern, evident in the structured planes of trees, clouds and rooftops. Gore’s enduring concern for everyday suburban subjects, combined with this new formal discipline, situated him at the forefront of a distinctly British modernism.