EDWARD SEAGO IN HONG KONG
The TayLor GaLLery, London
EDWARD SEAGO IN HONG KONG
Edward Seago (1910–1974) was one of Britain’s leading landscape artists. Although he was born and lived all his life in Norfolk, the tremendous artistic success he enjoyed allowed him to travel and paint all over the World. He was largely self taught. Although active before the Second World War, he enjoyed his major fame and fortune in the post war years. One of the largest collections of his work today is that of the British Royal Family several generations of which were personal friends of Seago. From 1945 to 1968 his main selling agents were Colnaghi and Co of Old Bond Street in London. During this time his annual November Exhibitions of both Oils and watercolours attracted so many would-be buyers that queues formed hours ahead of the Opening and Colnaghi had to ration purchasers to just one picture each. They were all sold out in the first hour!! After 1968, Seago changed his selling agent to to The Marlborough Gallery, also in London.– In 1962, Seago was invited to go out to Hong Kong by the major Far Eastern trading house of John Swire and Sons Ltd. who needed five paintings of Hong Kong for their new Boardroom. Mrs Juliet Swire, the wife of the then Taipan of Swires, John Kidstone Swire, had long been an admirer of Seago’s work and had in 1952 been an original subscriber to one of several books about him, Edward Seago, Painter in the English Tradition. The arrangement was that Swires would pay for his transport and accommodation in exchange for five 24 x 36 inch paintings of Hong Kong. Swires still have them. He completed his task in less than three weeks but, such was the admiration for his paintings by fellow Directors, family and friends that he agreed to stay on in Hong Kong to paint further pictures, both oils and watercolours, for which he charged extra. In the end he stayed in Hong Kong for three months and produced around ninety works. Up until he visited Hong Kong he mainly simply pitched his easel in the open air and painted what he saw. However, the local Cantonese, a people famous for their curiosity, used to cluster around him within minutes of his starting to paint and commentate noisily away so much so that he found that sometimes he couldn’t concentrate. He then switched to using his sketch books and worked up the paintings in his Studio later. Indeed, a few of his Hong Kong views were worked up from his sketch books after he returned to Norfolk later in the year. We illustrate one of these sketches of A Street in Wanchai in this Brochure.
Approximately 75% of the pictures stayed in Hong Kong. Many of them are still there in the collections of Trading Houses, Banks The Hong Kong Club and the families of the original purchasers. It is most unlikely that any of these will ever come onto the market. It has taken five years for us to accumulate the seven pictures that are illustrated here. They are rare and beautiful images of a time when Hong Kong was not quite so busy as it is today!! They are part of Hong Kong’s history. They will be exhibited on our Stand Number B 4 at The BADA Fine Art Fair at The Duke of York Square on The King’s Road in London SW3 4LY from March 9th to 15th 2016. They are all illustrated on our website www.taylorgallery.com. There is also a video of them which may be viewed by clicking on www.taylorgallery.com/videos In an autobiographical essay, Seago wrote that if he could “put atmosphere and light on to the canvas, then he had succeeded in his ambition” These seven wonderful views of Hong Kong presented here are very good examples of such success. A digital version of this catalogue may be viewed on our wesite: www.taylorgallery.com/seago-in-hong-kong Jeremy Taylor Spring 2016
The Hong Kong Waterfront Oil on Board 26 x 36 inches (66 x 92 cm) ÂŁ200,000
Queen’s Road West Oil on Board 16 x 12 inches (30 x 41 cm) Provenance: Purchased from Colnaghi, London in 1962 for 45 Guineas £60,000
Hong Kong Harbour Watercolour 10 ¼ x 14 ¼ inches (26 x 36 cm) Provenance: The Estate of Edward Seago £30,000
The Torn Sail Oil on Canvas 26 x 36 inches (66 x 92 cm) ÂŁ200,000
A Street in Shau Kie Wan Oil on Board 14 x 10 ½ inches (36 x 27 cm) Provenance: Purchased by a Private Collector from The Marlborough Gallery, London circa 1970 and thence by descent £65,000
LEFT
Sketch for A Street in Wanchai
RIGHT
A Street in Wanchai Oil on Board 26 x 20 inches (66 x 51 cm) Provenance: Colnaghi, London from where it was purchased in 1962 for 175 Guineas ÂŁ150,000
A Street in Kowloon Watercolour 13 x 20 inches (33 x 51 cm) Provenance: Colnaghi, London ÂŁ35,000
The TayLor GaLLery, London 1 Bolney Gate, London SW7 1QW, UK T +44 (0)20 7581 0253 M +44 (0)7977 555 230 info@taylorgallery.com www.taylorgallery.com