STUDIO EDITION | JUNE 2019
www.messums.com
STUDIO EDITION | JUNE 2019 A selection of works available at Messum’s Studio, Marlow To see the full collection, visit the website www.messums.com All works is available to purchase upon receipt of the catalogue Tel: 01628 486565
David Messum Fine Art
& The Studio, Lord’s Wood, Marlow, Bucks SL7 2QS 12 Bury Street, St. James’s London SW1Y 6AB, gallery opening Sept 2019 Tel: 01628 486565
www.messums.com
studio@messums.com
Lord’s Wood ‘An Outpost of Old Bloomsbury in the Marlow Woods’ – was how Frances Partridge, the last surviving member of the celebrated Bloomsbury Group, described Lord’s Wood in a 1958 diary entry. Partridge, an accomplished writer, diarist and translator, was a close friend of the renowned psychoanalyst, James Strachey (1887–1967) and his wife, Alix (1892– 1973), the house’s previous owners. In 1974, when David and Millie Messum purchased Lord’s Wood, the house was considerably rundown and the gardens were a veritable wilderness, largely because Alix had become increasingly eccentric and reclusive in her last years. Originally built in 1899, the house was designed by Granville Streatfield in the currently fashionable Lutyens style. However, its interior details bore the hallmark of its original owner, Alix’s mother, the eccentric mural painter, Mary Sargent Florence. Around the turn of the century, Mary, a widow following the death of her American husband, Henry Florence, arrived in Marlow from London. Looking for a place where she could raise Alix and her brother Philip, as well as found an artists colony, she settled on Marlow, where she collaborated with Streatfield on the plans for Lord’s Wood, specifically the design of The Studio.
The Studio From the very beginning, The Studio was the heart of Lord’s Wood. It was here that Mary planned and made studies for her two most important fresco commissions: at the Old School, Oakham in Rutland (c. 1909–14), and at Bournville School near Birmingham (1912–14). After 1920, The Studio took on a new identity as an important centre for psychoanalysis, when Alix and James married. Following a pilgrimage to Vienna to see Sigmund Freud, and subsequent analysis, Freud entrusted James and Alix to undertake the first English translation of his groundbreaking theories. Upon their return to Lord’s Wood, they completed the first draft in 1922, and working with a team at The Studio, eventually produced the first English version of Freud’s On Dreams, effectively changing the face of British Psychoanalysis.
Equally, throughout the 1920s, the house played host to James’s older brother Lytton Strachey, founding member of the Group, and author of Eminent Victorians, as well as Virginia and Leonard Woolf, Mark Gertler and Dora Carrington. Eventually, Lytton’s library came to be stored at The Studio, following his death in 1932, and remained there until Alix’s death. In his biography of Lytton Strachey, Michael Holroyd described the state of the The Studio at in the 1960s: “In the middle of the building were two great wooden tables piled high with boxes and files, and on the floor were littered innumerable trunks and suitcases – all full of letters, diaries and miscellaneous papers. Cobwebs and a pall of dust blanketed everything...” This was still very much the state of the house when David and Millie took possession, but in the intervening years The Studio has undergone a remarkable transformation. Cleaned, extended and restored, it now houses another collection of books and pictures, and it is wonderfully fitting that Lord’s Wood, and particularly The Studio, which were designed and built as havens of creativity, should now be the focus of a new artistic enterprise. What was formerly a working artist’s studio, then Alix and James Strachey’s think-tank, and Lytton Strachey’s library, The Studio is now the practical heart of Messum’s. It is here that the Gallery researches and organises its Cork Street exhibitions, and co-ordinates a skilled creative team of conservators, framers, photographers and designers.
The Gardens and Sculptures Throughout the gardens, you will find works by several renowned British sculptors exclusive to Messum’s, including Laurence Edwards, Dominic Welch and Bridget McCrum. The gardens were reclaimed and redesigned by David and Millie Messum, with the later help and expertise of Roger Langman, who is now Head Gardener. Roger will be more than happy to answer any planting queries you may have during your visit, as well as point out particular highlights.
Top left, Maynard Keynes at Lord’s Wood Bottom right, Alix Strachey with Lytton Strachey at Lord’s Wood
David Messum Fine Art The Studio, Lord’s Wood, Marlow, Bucks SL7 2QS
Tel: 01628 486565
www.messums.com
studio@messums.com
ALL WORK IS AVAILABLE TO PURCHASE UPON RECIEIPT OF THE CATALOGUE
To enquire about any of the paintings or sculpture in the catalogue or to arrange an appointment to view, please call a member of the Messum’s Studio team on 01628 486565 or email katie@messums.com OPEN WEEK AT THE STUDIO: 17 - 23 June 2019, open daily 10am - 4pm
David Messum
Katie Newman
Michael D L Child
Jenny Clark
Chairman
Studio Manager
Consultant
Accounts Manager
After beginning his career at Christie’s, David started his own art business in Bourne End, Bucks in 1963. Galleries at Beaconsfield, Windsor, St. James's and George Street followed, before he opened in Cork Street in 1993. David Messum produced the first book on British Impressionism in 1988. Further monographs and studies followed.
With twenty years in the art trade, Katie brings a wealth of experience in managing galleries, working with artists and developing private collections. After many years working with Old Master Paintings at Johnny Van Haeften's London gallery she moved to the Bohun Gallery in Oxfordshire, specialising in 20th Century British and Contemporary. It was here that Katie developed her interest in working directly with artists and managing Artist Estates.
Michael Child first joined David Messum in 1967 and with David has helped develop the gallery's reputation as market leaders in early Newlyn School and British Impressionist paintings.
Jenny is the latest member to join the Marlow team, heading up the accounts department. With a history of managing large financial teams within major international companies she is looking forward to a more personal approach and the opportunity to liaise directly with both artists and clients alike at Messum’s.
As Chairman, David continues to run the company, with its focus on British paintings from around 1880 to the present day. david@messums.com.
katie@messums.com
Michael’s specialist knowledge is recognised within the trade and his role as consultant involves looking after the gallery's special clients. michael-child@messums.com
jenny@messums.com
LIONEL BULMER
1
Towards Southwold (above) Oil on canvas 61 x 76 cm (24 x 30 in)
2
(1919-1992)
In the Dunes, Southwold (right) Oil on canvas Signed lower centre 122 x 91 cm ( 48 x 36 in)
The Lionel Bulmer and Margaret Green Studio Estate is represented by Messum’s
LAURENCE EDWARDS
(b. 1967)
One of the few sculptors who casts his own work, Laurence Edwards is fascinated by human anatomy and the metamorphosis of form and matter that governs the lost-wax process. The driving force behind his work is bronze, an alloy that physically and metaphorically illustrates entropy, the natural tendency of any system in time to tend towards disorder and chaos. His sculptures express the raw liquid power of bronze, its versatility, mass and evolution, and the variety of process marks he retains tell the story of how and why each work came to be. 3
Predicament (far left) Bronze, ed. of 3 264 x 100 x 100 cm (104 x 40 x 40in)
4
Man Contemplating Sticks (left) Bronze, ed. of 9 91 x 56 x 22cm (36 x 22 x 9in)
5
Healing Hands (below left) Bronze, ed. of 9 94 x 53 x 20cm (37 x 21 x 8in)
6
Brooding Man I (right) Bronze, ed. of 8 183 x 66 x 58 cm (72 x 26 x 23in)
RICHARD EURICH
(1903 - 1992 OBE RA NEAC)
Richard Eurich won a great number of prizes as a student at the Slade School of Art and he enjoyed considerable recognition between the wars, yet he remains one of one the really great but rather underappreciated British artists of the mid-Twentieth Century. This view is possibly of Salisbury Cathedral, twenty-five miles from Eurich’s home on the edge of the New Forest.
7
Approaching Storm, Salisbury Oil on canvas Signed lower left 51 x 61cm (20 x 24in)
STANHOPE ALEXANDER FORBES (1857 - 1947) RA NEAC
Within a year of his arrival in the Cornish fishing village of Newlyn, Stanhope Alexander Forbes was attracting the attention of other painters because of his dogmatic belief in the necessity of painting in the open air as much as for the extraordinary quality of his work. As the school acquired a public presence in London exhibitions he came to be regarded as its leader. He protested against being given the title ‘Father of the Newlyn School’, saying that, “Newlyners are followers of no-one—simply a body of artists who paint in the open air.”
8
The Village Shop, 1921 Oil on canvas Signed and dated lower right 61 x 75 cm (24 x 29in)
THOMAS COOPER GOTCH (1854 - 1931) RBA RI RP NEAC
Thomas Cooper Gotch was also a leading figure in the Newlyn School, the influential group of realist artists who from the early 1880s painted en plein air scenes of everyday life in a little Cornish fishing community. Our Village depicts a moment of activity and reflection on the Strand in Newlyn on a Remembrance Sunday some time in the 1920s. It is Gotch’s tribute to the dead of the Great War, a painting filled with love, loss and rebirth, an acknowledgment of the sacrifices made in this one little corner of England, a place that Gotch had made his home and the focus for so much of his art.
9
Our Village Oil on canvas Signed lower right 61 x 75 cm (24 x 29in)
WILFRID de GLEHN
(1854 - 1931) RA NEAC
Prior to the Second World War, Jane and Wilfrid de Glehn travelled extensively in Europe and particularly to the South of France, painting in the hills above St. Tropez and recording their journeys through the Alps on the way to Venice and Corfu.
10
Tyrolean Farm (left) Oil on canvas 65 x 76 cm (25 x 28in)
11
La Gaude: Study for ‘Soir Antique’ Oil on canvas 57 x 71 cm (22 x 28 in)
The Wilfrid and Jane de Glehn Estate is represented by Messum’s
HAROLD HARVEY
(1874 - 1941)
Of the early Newlyn artists, Harold Harvey was the only local. His pictures depicting the local working villagers are now much sought after. 12
Fishermen Playing Chequers, 1915 Oil on canvas Signed and dated lower left 15 x 17 in (38 x 43cm)
13
The Garden Seat, 1938 Oil on canvas Signed and dated lower right 20 x 18 in (51 x 46cm)
KARIN JONZEN
(1914 - 1998) RBA
Karin Jonzen found early fame after winning the 1939 Prix de Rome while still a student in Stockholm. Born in London of Swedish parents, and also studying at the Slade, she exhibited with the Royal Academy, New English Art Club, Royal Society of British Artists and the London Group. Into the 1950s her work was bought by leading collectors (the Sainsburys, Epstein, Kenneth Clark) and praised by critics. Portrait commissions for luminaries such as Ivor Novello and Ninette de Valois followed, and a flow of nameless figures celebrating the feminine form, youthful grace, and motherhood.
14
The Bather Bronze
15
Rebecca Bronze 148 cm high
Leonard Campbell Taylor RA ROI RP, 1874–1969 14. The Lady of the Castle, 1910 oil on canvas 109 x 94 cms 427⁄8 x 37 ins
LUCY KEMP-WELCH
(1869 - 1958) RI ROI RBA
Lucy Kemp-Welch’s fascination with animals was not limited to the portrayal of horses. Through her special affection for the working horse she became familiar with other agricultural animals and the labourers and farmers who tended them. Over the span of her long career Kemp Welch created many elegant depictions of agricultural animals often rendered in watercolour or pastel. She is perhaps best known for her illustrations of the 1915 edition of Anna Sewell’s classic tale, ‘Black Beauty’. The Studio Estate of Lucy Kemp-Welch has been represented by Messum’s since 1972, since when there have been a number of successful exhibitions and publications leading to her artistic reappraisal. 16
Three Calves in an Orchard (below)
17
Watercolour, signed lower left 23 x 32cm (9 x 12.5 in)
The Lucy Kemp-Welch Studio Estate is represented by Messum’s
The Transient Golden Hour (right) Watercolour, signed lower left 32 x 42 cm (12.5 x 16.5 in)
WALTER LANGLEY (1852 - 1922) RI RSA RBA RWA
Walter Langley was the first significant arrival in Newlyn of the artists who are now considered to form the celebrated Newlyn School of painters. Langley differed from the other artists in this group in that he came from an impoverished background in Birmingham and had not had the substantial continental training that the other artists around him had experienced. He was also unusual in that he had chosen to dedicate himself to mastering watercolour and it was not until his fortieth year, in 1892, that he began to exhibit oils regularly. In many ways, these differences make Langley a particularly striking figure among those in this group. His unstinting and genuine sympathy with all the daily struggles and hardships of the Cornwall fisherfolk led him to explore all the differing aspects of their lives.
18
A Letter From Afar (left) Watercolour Signed lower left 26 x 18cm (10 x 7 in)
19
Afternoon Reverie (right) Watercolour Signed upper right 26 x 18cm (10 x 7 in)
BRIDGET McCRUM Bridget’s work is a potent fusion of the ancient and the modern. Form, time and space expressed in stone , bronze, or in her charcoal drawings. Bird shapes that live about us signify her work. Her studio which rises above the Dart at Dittersham gives her an unparalled view of her chosen subject.
20
Bird of Time (below) Kilkenny limestone 120 x 156 x 30 cm (47 x 61 x 12 in)
21
Chorus (below right) Kilkenny limestone and carrara marble 122 x 63 x 12 cm (48 x 25 x 5 in)
(b. 1934) RWA FRBS 22
Merlin (far right) Bronze, ed. of 9 218 x 95 x 22cm (86 x 37 x 9 in)
JOHN MILLER
(1931 - 2002) NSA
In the 1970s and 1980s Miller travelled a great deal around the Mediterranean. There he became fascinated by the strong sunlight that renders shadows as intensely dark as the light is bright. These experiences loosened his brushwork and brought a new intensity of colour to his paintings of Cornwall. In 1995 he moved from Sancreed Rectory to Beachsid at Lelant and he is perhaps best known for his beach paintings.
23
Poolroom Reflection ,1991 (left) Oil on canvas 46 x 51cm (18 x 20in)
24
Evening Yacht Passing (right) Oil on canvas 91 x 86 cm (36 x 34 in)
NICOLAS MORETON
(b. 1961)
There is always an organic feel about Nicolas’s pieces. Taken, for the most part, from Ancaster Weatherbed stone, he uses the colour layers to explore and expand his ideas. 25
Imperial Lord II (left)) Indian red granite 240 x75 x 45 cm (94 x 29 x 18 in)
26
A Time to Play (below)) Ancaster weatherbed limestone 51 x 51 x 8 cm (20 x 20 x 3 in)
27
Through the Round Window Ancanster weatherbed limestone 190 x 190 x 40 cm (75 x 75 x 16 in)
WINIFRED NICHOLSON (1873 - 1981) NEAC
Winifred Nicholson’s pastel subjects, taken from the windows of her studio homes, are some of her most successful work. Simple but exploratory of an inner and outerspace. 28
Camma Lillies at Marakesh Pastel on paper 24 x 34 cm (9.5 x 13.5 in)
MARY NEWCOMB (1922 - 2008)
By pausing to look and focusing her untrained hand and eye on the natural world around her, Mary Newcomb became one of the most visionary British female artists of the twentieth century. 29
The Golden Leaf Oil on board 81 x 53 cm (32 x 21 in)
GILES RAYNER 30
Whirlpool (below) Bronze 48 x 189 cm (19 x 70in)
31
Nebula Water Sculpture (right) Reinforced copper 105 x 110cm (41 x 43 in)
(b. 1975) Giles Rayner is a water sculptor. Born into a family of fountaineers his work belies it’s simplicity. Water is engineered to power and display to ultimately intreague the viewer.
KEN SMITH
(b. 1944) The scale and choice of Polyphant stone gives Ken Smith’s pieces a sense of dignity. They speak of human conditions. Scaled up in bronze they are often majestic. 32
Square Head (left) Bronze, ed. of 9 64 x 54 x 59 cm (25 x 21 x 23in)
33
Japanese Female (below) Alabaster 20 cm high
34 Cowl Bronze, ed. of 9 98 x 73 x 73 cm (38 x 28 x 28 in)
PHILIP WILSON STEER 1860-1942 OM NEAC
By the beginning of the 1890s, Philip Wilson Steer was the leading exponent of French Impressionism in England. His beach scenes of the English and French coasts, painted in short flecked brushstrokes in pure unmixed colours, illustrate the most direct borrowings from Monet and Sisley in British art at that time. Steer painted this scene of yachts tied up at Southampton Water in 1921 using barely tinted washes of colour and long brushstrokes, which make it appear as if seen through streaming glass. Steer was working in Hythe at the time, and based on its subject matter and dimensions, this picture is probably related to four other views of Southampton Water, one of which is in the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne.
35
Southampton Water , 1921 Oil on canvas Signed and dated lower left 51 x 81 cm (20 x 32 in)
JEAN-MARIE TOULGOUAT (1927 - 2006) Great grandson of Monet by marriage, and grandson of American painter Theodore Butler, JeanMarie Toulgouat was born into an artistic and impressionistic world. He grew up in and died at Giverney and as a young boy, he played among Monet's late canvases. The subtle, yet important, link to French Impressionism is clearly visible in Toulgouat's own distinctive, brightly impressionistic yet also searingly modern pictures of flowers and gardens.
36
Groupe de Dahlias Dans la Grand Jardin (left) Oil on canvas 92 x 73 cm (36 1⁄4 x 8 3⁄4 in)
37
Les Soleils dans les I Iris Mauves (right) Oil on canvas 121 x 120 cm (47 x 47 in)
The Jean-Marie Toulgouat Estate is represented by Messum’s
DOMINIC WELCH
(b. 1970)
Domenic has a fascination with fruit seed and fossil life, vessels for life and his work is quick to blend in with its natural suroundings.
38
Geotrophic Sphere (far left) Bronze, ed. of 7 45 cm diameter (17 in)
39
Embryonic Form IV (above left) Carrara marble 45 x 51 cm (18 x 20in)
40
Silent Moon (below left) Bronze, ed. of 11 34 x 37 cm (13 x 14 in)
41
Agean Moon (right) Carrara marble 143 x 148 x 15 cm (56 x 58 x 6 in)
LUCY UNWIN
(b. 1984) New works by Lucy have developed from her successful shell and crustation motifs to produce sensual forms prompting thoughts of renewal and femininity
42
Evolving Form (left) Carrara marble 100 x 38 x 38 cm (39 x 15 x 15 in)
43
Primavera (below) Greek Thassos marble 73 x 36 x 32 cm (29 x 14 x 12 in)
44
Inner Beauty Carrara marble 100 x 38 x 30 cm (39 x 15 x 12 in)
www.messums.com
To see the full collection, visit the website www.messums.com All work is available to purchase upon receipt of the catalogue Tel: 01628 486565
JOIN US: OPEN WEEK 17th - 23rd June 2019 The Studio, Lords’ Wood, Marlow, Bucks SL7 2QS Tel: 01628 4865656 E: katie@messums.com Open daily 10am - 4pm
45
NEIL WILKIN Narelle Bush Glass 35 x 69 x 79cm cm (53 x 27 x 31 in)
The Studio and Sculpture Gardens are available to view throughout the year by appointment. Please call Katie Newman on 01628 486565 or email katie@messums.com
David Messum Fine Art
London gallery: 12 Bury Street, St. James’s London SW1Y 6AB & The Studio, Lord’s Wood, Marlow, Bucks SL7 2QS Tel: 01628 486565
www.messums.com
studio@messums.com