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Auction archive: Lot number 1897

JOHN WILLIAM GODWARD (1861-1922) SUMMER

Auction 12.10.2012
12 Oct 2012
Estimate
£150,000 - £200,000
ca. US$241,261 - US$321,681
Price realised:
£320,000
ca. US$514,690
Auction archive: Lot number 1897

JOHN WILLIAM GODWARD (1861-1922) SUMMER

Auction 12.10.2012
12 Oct 2012
Estimate
£150,000 - £200,000
ca. US$241,261 - US$321,681
Price realised:
£320,000
ca. US$514,690
Beschreibung:

JOHN WILLIAM GODWARD (1861-1922) SUMMER IDLENESS: DAY DREAMS Signed and dated J. W. Godward 1909, oil on canvas 50 x 75cm. Provenance: Frank Bush, by whom sold at Christies, London, 2nd April 1937, , £69.6s.; bt. Messrs. Vicars Brothers, London; with Harrods, London, 1957, bt. by mother of owner for £100 Literature: Forman of Nottingham copyrighted a chromolithograph of this subject, c.1910, entitled `Summer Idleness`. Swanson states that there were `numerous prints made after Godward's work at this time`. Vern Swanson will include this picture is a forthcoming enlarged edition of John William Godward The Eclipse of Classicism (Woodbridge, 1997) in which this work is currently recorded as item 17 for the year 1909 Since 1937, this subject has been known to scholars only from the above mentioned print. In a communication with Lawrences in August 2012, Swanson was able to examine the colours with greater accuracy than the print allowed. He notes that it is "much more delicate and elegant" and adds that he believes it to be "one of the most sensitively coloured paintings in Godward's oeuvre." Biography Godward was born into a conservative middle class London family in 1861. They strongly opposed his wish to pursue a career in art but Godward probably began working under the artist William Clarke Wontner (1857-1930), perfecting a technique for the painting of marble that was to become a trademark. There are scant references to any other formal training but his "Yellow Turban" was accepted at the Royal Academy in 1887 and echoed the style of artists such as Leighton and Alma-Tadema whose fondness for Classical subject matter had prevailed for over two decades. Godward moved from Wimbledon to Bolton Studios in Kensington and enjoyed sustained success at the Royal Academy for nearly twenty years, showing twenty one pictures in total. However, with the advent of Modernism, Godward's style appeared even more historical and old-fashioned. He withdrew from exhibiting as his critical acclaim diminished and sold his works only through agents and a few dealers. He continued to paint for pleasure, disdaining the rapid changes in direction that art was taking in the Edwardian era. Godward's work is notable for its remarkable luminosity of colour achieved by his diligent use of very thin translucent glazes. His works have neither obtrusive narrative content nor any moralizing references. Rather, the atmosphere is one of serene contentment with subtle blendings of form, colour and superlative technical expertise. There is invariably a Vermeer-like stillness in his pictures: this carefully considered lack of movement removes any narrative drive. We are left to ponder upon the girl's thoughts and, in so doing, share a little of her contemplative ease. Godward's models became more voluptuous and the artist's love of luxuriant flesh antagonised his family still further. His mother never forgave her son for his breach of conduct when he started living with a favoured model. Sadly, the artist became estranged from his own family and, facing a real world that could never match the idyllic perfection of his subjects, he fell into bouts of deep depression. Godward took his own life in 1922 at the age of 61. This heaped yet more shame upon his relatives who destroyed all of Godward's papers. Moreover, it is said that John's face was cut out of family photographs in later years. Scarcely a single photograph of him remains. "The Victorian vision of antiquity was a deeply romantic one; they looked back wistfully to the past as a golden age, far simpler, nobler and more inspiring than their own. Their art was an expression of a desire to escape from the ugliness, materialism and industrialism of their own age. Victorians were the spiritual heirs of the Romantic movement, and the classicism that they created can certainly be defined as `romantic classicism`." (Christopher Wood Olympian Dreamers, London, 1983, p.17)

Auction archive: Lot number 1897
Auction:
Datum:
12 Oct 2012
Auction house:
Lawrences Auctioneers
South Street
The Linen Yard
Crewkerne, Somerset, TA18 8AB
United Kingdom
enquiries@lawrences.co.uk
+44 (0)1 46073041
+44 (0)1460 279969
Beschreibung:

JOHN WILLIAM GODWARD (1861-1922) SUMMER IDLENESS: DAY DREAMS Signed and dated J. W. Godward 1909, oil on canvas 50 x 75cm. Provenance: Frank Bush, by whom sold at Christies, London, 2nd April 1937, , £69.6s.; bt. Messrs. Vicars Brothers, London; with Harrods, London, 1957, bt. by mother of owner for £100 Literature: Forman of Nottingham copyrighted a chromolithograph of this subject, c.1910, entitled `Summer Idleness`. Swanson states that there were `numerous prints made after Godward's work at this time`. Vern Swanson will include this picture is a forthcoming enlarged edition of John William Godward The Eclipse of Classicism (Woodbridge, 1997) in which this work is currently recorded as item 17 for the year 1909 Since 1937, this subject has been known to scholars only from the above mentioned print. In a communication with Lawrences in August 2012, Swanson was able to examine the colours with greater accuracy than the print allowed. He notes that it is "much more delicate and elegant" and adds that he believes it to be "one of the most sensitively coloured paintings in Godward's oeuvre." Biography Godward was born into a conservative middle class London family in 1861. They strongly opposed his wish to pursue a career in art but Godward probably began working under the artist William Clarke Wontner (1857-1930), perfecting a technique for the painting of marble that was to become a trademark. There are scant references to any other formal training but his "Yellow Turban" was accepted at the Royal Academy in 1887 and echoed the style of artists such as Leighton and Alma-Tadema whose fondness for Classical subject matter had prevailed for over two decades. Godward moved from Wimbledon to Bolton Studios in Kensington and enjoyed sustained success at the Royal Academy for nearly twenty years, showing twenty one pictures in total. However, with the advent of Modernism, Godward's style appeared even more historical and old-fashioned. He withdrew from exhibiting as his critical acclaim diminished and sold his works only through agents and a few dealers. He continued to paint for pleasure, disdaining the rapid changes in direction that art was taking in the Edwardian era. Godward's work is notable for its remarkable luminosity of colour achieved by his diligent use of very thin translucent glazes. His works have neither obtrusive narrative content nor any moralizing references. Rather, the atmosphere is one of serene contentment with subtle blendings of form, colour and superlative technical expertise. There is invariably a Vermeer-like stillness in his pictures: this carefully considered lack of movement removes any narrative drive. We are left to ponder upon the girl's thoughts and, in so doing, share a little of her contemplative ease. Godward's models became more voluptuous and the artist's love of luxuriant flesh antagonised his family still further. His mother never forgave her son for his breach of conduct when he started living with a favoured model. Sadly, the artist became estranged from his own family and, facing a real world that could never match the idyllic perfection of his subjects, he fell into bouts of deep depression. Godward took his own life in 1922 at the age of 61. This heaped yet more shame upon his relatives who destroyed all of Godward's papers. Moreover, it is said that John's face was cut out of family photographs in later years. Scarcely a single photograph of him remains. "The Victorian vision of antiquity was a deeply romantic one; they looked back wistfully to the past as a golden age, far simpler, nobler and more inspiring than their own. Their art was an expression of a desire to escape from the ugliness, materialism and industrialism of their own age. Victorians were the spiritual heirs of the Romantic movement, and the classicism that they created can certainly be defined as `romantic classicism`." (Christopher Wood Olympian Dreamers, London, 1983, p.17)

Auction archive: Lot number 1897
Auction:
Datum:
12 Oct 2012
Auction house:
Lawrences Auctioneers
South Street
The Linen Yard
Crewkerne, Somerset, TA18 8AB
United Kingdom
enquiries@lawrences.co.uk
+44 (0)1 46073041
+44 (0)1460 279969
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