Geoffrey humphries

GEOFFREY HUMPHRIES PAINTINGS AND DRAWINGS FROM THE VENICE STUDIO

pp01-05 GH Prelims Q7_OP.indd 1

25/07/17 14:47

A CAMBRIDGE PORTRAIT JANET TODD

W

HEN I became president of Lucy Cavendish

way I appreciated the marvellous Renaissance art of Venice but

that, as part of the role, I would need to

and at home in Cambridge my most prized paintings are from my

College, Cambridge, in 2008 I understood

have my portrait painted. I was the seventh president of this college, founded in the

1960s to give women over 21 a first or second chance at the best higher education on offer in Britain. Portraits of the previous

presidents hang in the college dining hall; the largest of them a

painting of my predecessor, Dame Veronica Sutherland, by Maggi Hambling. Dame Veronica was the first female ambassador to Ireland; Hambling cleverly depicted her with an inset of Oscar

Wilde in the background. It went without saying that the portraits

had no knowledge of the modern artistic scene. I am not a collector father who had struck up a friendship with Giulio Falzoni in Italy

during the war and been given several impressionistic works. Fal-

zoni painted more when he came to London. I remember watching him – the first time I had seen a professional artist at work – painting in the rain, standing under an umbrella by the Thames. Yet it’s difficult to return to Venice without being a witness to art being

made – without stumbling over the many amateurs obstructing bridges with their easels and mugs of coffee.

In a local café on Giudecca I heard of a painter called Geoffrey

displayed in this all-women college were painted by women.

Humphries. He was said to be a splendid portraitist, especially of

the fine arts committee began sending me prospective portrait

and beauty of his subjects. It didn’t occur to me to seek him out.

Soon after I was installed in the president’s lodge, the chair of

painters. The women I met were all delightful, young and eager.

I liked their work, but none absolutely grabbed me. I had never sat for a portrait and my knowledge of the process came largely from

the novels of Henry James and Virginia Woolf, so I had little idea of what sitting in my college study with one of these talented young women would be like. Only one of them seemed unappealing

to me: she looked at me carefully and said she was interested in

catching the lines of an ageing face. I was and am certainly ageing but had not wanted this to be the main feature of my portrait.

For several years I have been visiting La Giudecca island in

women, and a brilliant colourist, catching both the personality

But then one day, walking off Campo Santo Stefano in Dorsoduro, trying, I think, to find the elusive Fortuny Museum, I came to a

gallery called ‘Holly Snapp’ where two calli intersected. My eye was immediately caught by the paintings in the windows: ravishing

pictures of young women in long dresses, often a vibrant red but also blue and green. The women were frequently placed against

mirrors with water rippling in the background. I could also see vivid pictures of Venice, colourful vignettes of everyday activity. I walked past the gallery a few times, but no one was there to lure me in.

A few days later I went back and met Geoffrey Humphries.

Venice, especially during the long summer vacation. I was

A couple of proseccos later, I had agreed to go to his studio near

Shelley during their time in the city. In an entirely untutored

modern apartment. I would discuss possibilities – nothing more.

researching women connected with the poets Byron and

the vaporetto stop of La Palanca and fairly close to my own small

fig. 1

Jan in Red Gown, Giudecca Studio 2009, oil on canvas 130 × 100 cm

30

pp06-33 GH Essays Q11_OP.indd 30

25/07/17 14:50

pp06-33 GH Essays Q11_OP.indd 31

25/07/17 14:50

CONVERSATION PIECES

Sleeping Girl on Opium Bed 2017, oil on canvas 120 × 100 cm

34

pp34-123 GH Q10_OP.indd 34

25/07/17 16:03

pp34-123 GH Q10_OP.indd 35

25/07/17 16:03

pp34-123 GH Q10_OP.indd 44

25/07/17 16:03

Lipstick in Studio Mirror 2010, oil on canvas 120 × 80 cm

Red Dress Three Mirrors 2010, oil on canvas 100 × 90 cm

45

pp34-123 GH Q10_OP.indd 45

25/07/17 16:03

pp34-123 GH Q10_OP.indd 47

25/07/17 16:03

pp34-123 GH Q10_OP.indd 48

25/07/17 16:03

DRAWINGS

Berenice Seated with Ruff 1982, charcoal on paper 58 × 41 cm

54

pp34-123 GH Q10_OP.indd 54

25/07/17 16:03

pp34-123 GH Q10_OP.indd 55

25/07/17 16:04

pp34-123 GH Q10_OP.indd 59

25/07/17 16:04

pp34-123 GH Q10_OP.indd 60

25/07/17 16:04

Mario as Sailor 2001, oil on canvas 152 × 92 cm

Mario as French Foreign Legionnaire 2001, oil on canvas 100 × 70 cm

Mario as Carabiniere 2001, oil on canvas 120 × 80 cm

142

pp124-181 GH Q12_OP.indd 142

25/07/17 16:08

pp124-181 GH Q12_OP.indd 143

25/07/17 16:08

John Berendt 2004, oil on canvas 120 × 70 cm

pp124-181 GH Q12_OP.indd 145

25/07/17 16:08

Erik Kuby 1996, oil on panel 40 × 30 cm

Erik Kuby 1996, oil on panel 40 × 30 cm

Erik Kuby 1996, oil on panel 40 × 30 cm

146

pp124-181 GH Q12_OP.indd 146

25/07/17 16:08

Barge in front of the Altanella, Giudecca 2002, watercolour on paper 27 Ă— 37 cm

156

pp124-181 GH Q12_OP.indd 156

25/07/17 16:08

pp124-181 GH Q12_OP.indd 157

25/07/17 16:08

Mooring at the Customs House 2005, watercolour on paper 27 Ă— 37 cm

168

pp124-181 GH Q12_OP.indd 168

25/07/17 16:08

Washing Line at the Arsenale 2000, watercolour on paper 37 Ă— 27 cm

pp124-181 GH Q12_OP.indd 169

25/07/17 16:08

Grand Canal towards Rialto 2016, watercolour on paper 17 Ă— 55 cm

172

pp124-181 GH Q12_OP.indd 172

25/07/17 16:08

173

pp124-181 GH Q12_OP.indd 173

25/07/17 16:08

BIBLIOGRAPHY CATALOGUES AND BOOKS Lauritzen, Peter and Conway Morris, Roderick. Geoffrey Humphries: Venetian Watercolours (Holly Snapp Gallery, Venice, 1998) Packer, William et al. Geoffrey: The Portraits and Drawings of Geoffrey Humphries (Chelsea Arts Club, Poligrafica, Venice, 1990) Packer, William et al. Geoffrey: Venice – Places and Faces (Gallerie Werner Meyer, Cloppenburg, Germany, Poligrafica, Venice, 1992) Riccomini, Franco, Cecconi, Paolo and Falconi, Fabiano. Geoffrey Humphries: Da Venezia a Montepiano 1968 – 2008 (Studio 451, Prato, 2008) Rose, Cynthia. Geoffrey Humphries: Work in Oils, Portraits and Nudes (Holly Snapp Gallery, Venice, 2003) SELECTED CATALOGUE ESSAYS AND MONOGRAPHS Borsato, Renato. Catalogue introduction to exhibition Geoffrey mostra personale del pittore (Galleria Bevilacqua La Masa, August 1968) Buck, Louisa. Introduction to exhibition Geoffrey: A Retrospective (Locanda Montin, Venice, 1995) Di Martino, Enzo. Catalogue introduction to exhibition Geoffrey (Galleria Traghetto, Venice, 1987) Frank-Burattin, Rinaldo. Catalogue introduction to exhibition Geoffrey (Galleria 23, Brescia, 1970) Warlick, Mary. Introduction to exhibition Geoffrey: Drawings and Paintings (Stephen Bartley Gallery, London, 1984) SELECTED ARTICLES Accerboni, Mariana. ‘Quei serenissimi disegni’ (Il Piccolo, 17 January 1986) Bernard, Jeff. ‘Jeff in Venice’ (The Spectator, 6 April 1996) Bonaddio, Gabriella. ‘My bella gap year’ (Country Life, Travel, Spring 2004) Campbell-Johnston, Rachel. ‘The modern muse: the psychology of being an artist’s model’ (The Times, T2, 22 July 2003) Coleridge, Nicholas. ‘Peril in Venice’(Tatler, October 1980) Copstick, Kate. ‘From canvas to curator’ (Italia!, March 2005) Dal Bon, Giovanna. ‘Giudecca: l’isola che non c’era’ (Class, June 2004) Delfino, Franco Ferrari. ‘Intervista immaginaria a Geoffrey Humphries’(Quaderni, Insula, June 2001) Edwards, Adam. ‘Hair of the doge’ (Evening Standard, 19 May 1993) Facchinelli, Laura. ‘Cascella, Duse, D’Uva e Geoffrey’(La Nuova Venezia, 15 June 1988)

Gion, Andrea and Liuzzi, Savino. ‘Hey! Geoffrey: L’ Atelier, pittura, donne e musica’ (L’ illustre, 2009) Harris, Sandra. ‘Venice Revisited’ (Orient Express Hotels) Heller, Joseph. ‘Just coffee, thanks’ (Forbes Magazine, 9 March 1998) Holbrook, Polly. ‘Geoff in Venice’ (The Glasgow Herald, June 1996) Humphries, Geoffrey. ‘All at sea in Venice’ (The Whistler, Spring/Summer 1992) Humphries, Geoffrey. ‘Home from home’ (The Telegraph Magazine, 16 June 1990) Lester, Anthony J. ‘Audacious buyers’ (Antique Dealers and Collectors Guide, September 2002) Lyttelton, Celia. ‘Ahead by a pose, Tatler’s guide to the very best portrait painters’ (Tatler, May 1993) Packer, William. ‘Ambitious beyond the simple portrait’ (Financial Times, July 2/3 1994) Reski, Petra. ‘Venedig, Klatsch auf allen Kanälen’ (Park Avenue, May 2006) Reski, Petra. ‘Venedig Streng Geheim’ (Cosmopolitan, September 1993) Riccomini, Franco. ‘Quando a Montepiano s’incontrava la cultura Europea’ (Prato La Nazione, 2 August 2008) Rocchi, Mario. ‘Geoffrey alla “33”’ (Corriere di Pistoia, 1972) Scarpa, Tiziano, Fiorin, Alberto, Giorgi, Sebastiano and Rizzardini, Alessandro ‘Geoffrey Humphries sommo acquarellista’ (Veneziani [quasi] famosi, StudioLT2, Grafiche Veneziane, 2010) Schaefer, Barbara. ‘Die Kunst, zu verkaufen’ (Italien von Venedig nach Rom, Brigitte, 2007) Sorbello, Salvatore. ‘Seduzione nelle opere del pittore George Geoffrey’ (La Nazione, 28 October 1972) Spence, Rachel. ‘Gondola with the wind’ (Tatler, March 2002) Tempestini, Riccardo. ‘L’arte di Geoffrey Humphries in due mostre’ (Il Tirreno, 25 July 2008) Upton, Simon. ‘National living treasure, frame gilder, Geoffrey Humphries’ (Country Life, 29 May 1997) Usherwood, Nicholas. ‘City of illusions’ (Galleries, August 2002) Vendrenne, Elisabeth and Martin, Andre. Demeures secretes de Venise (Albin Michel, Paris, 1990) Viarelli, Wanda. ‘Wer wohnt denn da? Geoffrey Humphries, Maler’ (GeoSpecial Venedig, February/March 2004) ‘La donna secondo Humphries’ (Il Giornale della Toscana, 29 July 2008)

192

pp182-192 GH Endmatter Q10_OP.indd 192

25/07/17 16:26