Penny Day
Head of UK and Ireland
Lot 25AR
David Jagger R.O.I.
(British, 1891-1958)
Self Portrait 40.6 x 30.5 cm. (16 x 12 in.)
Amended
14 June 2017, 15:00 BST
London, New Bond StreetSold for £221,000 inc. premium
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Christopher Dawson
Head of Department
Ingram Reid
Head of Sale
David Jagger R.O.I. (British, 1891-1958)
Self Portrait
signed 'Jagger' (lower right); further signed 'Jagger' (verso) and signed again and inscribed 'David Jagger/age 35/Self Portrait' (on a label attached to the frame)
oil on board
40.6 x 30.5 cm. (16 x 12 in.)
Painted in 1928
signed 'Jagger' (lower right); further signed 'Jagger' (verso) and signed again and inscribed 'David Jagger/age 35/Self Portrait' (on a label attached to the frame)
oil on board
40.6 x 30.5 cm. (16 x 12 in.)
Painted in 1928
Footnotes
Provenance
The Artist, 1940
With William Yeo, Hampshire, 21 March 1986, where acquired by the present owner
Private Collection, U.K
Exhibited
London, The Wednesday & Thursday Gallery, Self Portraits, January 1934
London, J. Leger and Son, David Jagger, 31 October-15 November 1935, cat.no.23
Sheffield, Mappin Art Gallery, Society of Artists 56th Annual Exhibition, 1 October-1 November 1936, cat.no.66
Halifax, Bankfield Museum, The Art of the Jagger Family, 26 August-23 September 1939; this exhibition travelled to, Burton, 4 November- 2 December, Darlington, Museum and Art Gallery, 16 December-13 January 1940, Lincoln, Usher Art Gallery, 3-27 February, Rotherham, Museum and Art Gallery, 9 March-6 April and Sunderland, Art Gallery, 24 April-26 May
Literature
'The Yorkshire Post', 5 January 1934
Please note that there is another completed work by the same hand verso, Study of a Head (1927), which was exhibited in London at New Burlington Galleries (Portrait Society, January-February 1928, cat.no.44).
During the late 1920s David Jagger had established a system of artificial lighting in his Chelsea studio and had become fascinated with the chiaroscuro effects it produced. During this time he produced a small number of intimately observed portraits, of which this work is one.
Described by the art critic, Bernard James Valentine Carr in an undated exhibition review, 'To even the most casual observer, the best of the oil paintings is Mr. Jagger's Self Portrait which is a remarkably fine example of the artists' technique allied to an unusual method of presentation. The picture is a head against a very dark background. The fact of the dark background and of cutting the portrait off at the chin is to make the shape of the head, the lineaments of the features, and the general characteristics of the subject stand out with unusual force'.
We are grateful to Timothy Dickson for preparing this catalogue entry. This work will be included in a forthcoming catalogue raisonné of David Jagger currently being prepared by Timothy Dickson and due for publication in the autumn 2017.
Saleroom notices
Please note that the present work is oil on paper laid onto the reverse of a prepared canvas board, and not as stated in the auction catalogue.
