Nude Study (No. 1)

Details

Eric Kennington, R.A. (London 1888-1960 Reading)
Nude Study (No. 1)
signed with initials and dated 'EHK 26' (lower left)
pencil, charcoal and pastel
22 x 13¾ in. (56 x 35 cm.)

Provenance

Mrs E.H. Kennington, June 1961.
with Leicester Galleries, London, January 1973, where purchased by Simon Heneage.
Anonymous sale; Sotheby's, London, 15 November 1978, lot 87, where purchased by Brian Sewell.

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.

Brought to you by

Lucy Cox

lcox@christies.com +44 (0)20 7389 2243

Lot Essay

During the 1920s, Kennington executed a series of drawings in charcoal and pastel of nude adult females, of which this is one of the most vibrant examples. Dr Jonathan Black explains how he would draw 'the same subject matter repetitively, and almost obsessively, for a period of time, and then cease to draw it any more. In this case, he appears not to have drawn any further nude studies of women after 1930. In 1927, T.E. Lawrence would express surprise that Kennington was so interested in drawing the female nude: 'Do you really like naked women? They express so little'' (J. Black, The Graphic Art of Eric Kennington, London, 2001, p. 41).

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