Beschreibung:

GRAHAM SUTHERLAND, O.M. (1903-1980) Composition study for a portrait of Sir Kenneth Clark Lord Clark, KCB, FBA, CH, OM, (1903-1983) dated '7.1.62' (upper right) pencil and watercolour 10 x 8 in. (25 x 20 cm.) Provenance: Acquired from the artist's studio, by the Bergamini Gallery, Milan. Private collection, Europe. Exhibited: Varese, Musei Civici di Villa Mirabello, 23 May - 26 July 1992. Conegliano, Galleria Comunale d'Arte, Sutherland Ritratti,2 March - 28 April 1996, unnumbered. Literature: Exhibition catalogue, G. Testori, Sutherland L'atelier dei ritratti, MIlan, 1992, p. 44, illustrated. Exhibition catalogue, M. Goldin, Sutherland Ritratti, Milan, 1996, p.160, illustrated. Artist's Resale Right may apply on this lot. Sir Kenneth Clark remembers this conversation in his autobiography: ‘One day in 1940 Graham said to me: ‘You know, when the war is over, I should like to paint portraits’. I was dumbfounded… [this] did not at all fit in with the character of Graham’s art. At that time he was known almost entirely by his landscapes of an estuary in South Wales, inhabited by twisted trees and somewhat sinister roots. Occasionally these roots took the stage alone... They were the nearest he had got to a portrait. I said: ‘I somehow don’t see you as a professional portrait painter; technically you can do anything [which is true] – but just think of how some of your sitters would bore you’ ‘Of course I would make my own selection. The human head is only an objet trouvé – and a most interesting one.’’…When I saw his portrait of Mr Somerset Maugham, to whom I had introduced him, I realised how foolish I had been’ (K. Clark, The Other Half – A Self-Portrait, London, 1977, p. 43.) Sutherland painted fewer than fifty portraits in the course of thirty years and was very selective refusing numerous commissions, focusing only on the ones that provided stimulus to his painting. On the one side, the physical element was crucial for him, similarly to the ‘hidden forms; he would find in a landscape, on the other side, the personality was of great importance: ’I…find it immensely fascinating.. to deal with people who have had pressures put upon them or who have the character necessary to direct great enterprises. There are psychological overtones in such people which is absorbing to try and render’ (G.S. quoted in J. Hayes, The Art of Graham Sutherland, Oxford, 1980, p. 33.) It is no wonder that Sir Kenneth Clark was to be a choice of sitter: a personal friend of the artist and an important figure in the art world as an art historian, critic, writer, teacher and the youngest Director at the National Gallery (1934-45), Clark seems to have possessed all the features Sutherland found intriguing. At the time the portrait was painted, Clark was a Trustee of the British Museum, on the Advisory Council of the Victoria and Albert Museum and had recently been Slade Professor at Oxford. The friendship between Clark and Sutherland dates back to 1934. Clark was amongst Sutherland’s first and most important supporters, acquiring numerous works and organising his first exhibition at Rosenberg and Helft’s in 1938. At the outbreak of the war in 1939, he invited the artist and his wife, Kathleen, to stay with the Clarks in the country, in 1941, as a president of the War Artist’s committee, he played a key role in appointing Sutherland as an official War Artist and he is also known to have paid the mortgage on Sutherlands’ house at Trottiscliffe in Kent. It is in Trottscliffe’s garden where the present composition study was executed. By that point Sutherland had already been widely recognised as one of the leading contemporary artists and was enjoying fame and prosperity. Lord Clark was proud to be portrayed by Sutherland, as he wrote in September 1962 and enjoyed it also because this allowed him time for uninterrupted conversations with the artist during the sittings. In the present work a powerful rhythm of movement has been created by