
Penny Day
Head of UK and Ireland
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Sold for £35,000 inc. premium
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Head of UK and Ireland

Head of Department

Director
PROVENANCE:
Acquired by the present owner prior to 1967
EXHIBITED:
London, The Leicester Galleries, John Craxton, May 1961, cat.no.2
London, Whitechapel Gallery, John Craxton; Paintings and Drawings 1941-1966, January-February 1967, cat.no.82 (where lent by the present owner)
This was one of the first pictures produced by Craxton to celebrate his move to Crete, from the island of Hydra, in 1960. In an ancient harbourside house in Chania, which would be his Greek home for the rest of his life, he set about painting with renewed vigour. On his first evening he went to dinner with Winston Churchill, Margot Fonteyn and Aristotle Onassis, but Cretan shepherds and sailors on leave from ships berthed in nearby Souda Bay would provide his favourite company and the main models for his drawings and paintings.
We are grateful to Ian Collins for compiling this catalogue entry.