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Lot 81^AR

Sandra Blow R.A.
(British, 1925-2006)
River (Summer No.1) 91.4 x 114.2 cm. (36 x 45 in.)

Modern British and Irish Art

13 June 2018, 15:00 BST

London, New Bond Street

Sold for £25,000 inc. premium

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Sandra Blow R.A. (British, 1925-2006)

River (Summer No.1)
signed and titled 'Sandra Blow/River (Summer/No.1)' (verso)
oil and plaster on board
91.4 x 114.2 cm. (36 x 45 in.)

Footnotes

Provenance
The Artist
Thence by family descent
Private Collection, U.K.

Exhibited
Bradford, Bradford City Art Gallery, 1956, cat.no.811

Likely painted circa 1954, just before River No. 2 (see sale; Christie's, 14 March, 2002, Lot 257), River (Summer No.1) is an early formative abstract painting informed by Sandra Blow's romantic friendship with the important post-war Italian artist Alberto Burri (1915-1995), whom she was introduced to by another artist friend, Nicholas Carone upon her arrival in Rome in 1947. The Tate collection includes a stunning work by Burri, Sacking and Red (1954) which arguably influenced the present lot, especially in terms of the pictorial design and palette; broad bands of blood red juxtaposed with undulating earthy browns. Whilst the now-famous Burri sacchi was not incorporated into River (Summer No.1) , Blow has built up the surface of her painting, quite considerably in parts, with roughly applied plaster, a technique undoubtedly learnt from the Italian. In the lower centre of the composition it swirls around creating the impression of a flowing river and on the right edge it has been heavily scored into thus creating texture and depth. The time Blow spent in Italy, travelling around with Burri, had a lasting impact on her. The artist commented of this time:

'But I think that what really helped me with the formation of what I was doing was the use of material, because I found that materials could speak, in a way, or have a presence, a physical spatial relief effect which also connected me to [Alberto] Burri, who was part of the art born in me in Italy.' Michael Bird, Sandra Blow, Lund Humphries, Aldershot, 2005, p.46)

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