Skip to main content

This auction has ended. View lot details

You may also be interested in

Own a similar item?

Submit your item online for a free auction estimate.

Lot 4

Maud Frances Eyston Sumner
(South African, 1902-1985)
Namib Dunes

12 September 2018, 14:00 BST
London, New Bond Street

Sold for £5,625 inc. premium

Own a similar item?

Submit your item online for a free auction estimate.

How to sell

Looking for a similar item?

Our specialists can help you find a similar item at an auction or via a private sale.

Find your local specialist

Maud Frances Eyston Sumner (South African, 1902-1985)

Namib Dunes
signed 'SUMNER' (lower right)
oil on canvas
79.5 x 98.5cm (31 5/16 x 38 3/4in).

Footnotes

Provenance
The collection of Dame Janet Suzman, DBE.


After matriculating from Roedean School in Johannesburg, Maud Sumner moved to Britain to study English Literature at the University of Oxford. The plan was that Sumner was to pursue a teaching career following her graduation. But the young woman's artistic inclinations proved stronger than her father's fears about the instability of a painter's life. She enrolled at the Westminster School of Art, continuing her education at the Academie de la Grande Chaumiere in Paris in 1926. She remained here for four years, despite her family's request that she return to South Africa.

Sumner first encountered the desert when she visited Israel in 1953. Fascinated by the vast, plain scenery she went on to travel to the Namib Desert in 1965. It was during this trip that her style underwent an evolution; moving away from solid forms, her paintings became increasingly abstract and loosely defined. The desert landscape of Namib Dunes is communicated in broad gestural strokes. The artist captures the solitude and quiet tranquility of the desert through the limited palette of pale yellows, creams and browns.

Bibliography
E. Berman, Art & Artists of South Africa, (A A Balkema, 1983), pp.444.

Additional information

Bid now on these items

Bertina Lopes(Mozambican, 1924-2012)"Respiro" (Breath)

Bertina Lopes(Mozambican, 1924-2012)"Jazz una forma di musica classica contemporanea che riflette il cosmo prospettico dell'Africa II (da una frase di Harolds Bradley)" (Jazz is a form of contemporary classical music that reflects the cosmos African II perspective (from a phrase by Harold Bradley))

Bertina Lopes(Mozambican, 1924-2012)"Il sole la vita" (The Sun, Life)

Bertina Lopes(Mozambican, 1924-2012)"Ipotese dello continuo" (I'm a fan of the continuous)

Willem Boshoff(South African, born 1951)Neves I & II

Karen Jarosynzka(South African 1934-2014)Quasimodo

Rom Isichei(Nigerian, born 1966)Conversation with my Alter Ego

Anton Karstel(South African, born 1968)Portrait of Ian van Biljoen

Anton Karstel(South African, born 1968)Adderley St

Greg Marinovich(South African, born 1962)

Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela(South African, 1918-2013)Left hand

Sophie Mowat(British, born 1988)The Other Bounty

Christine Dixie(South African, born 1966)Hide (To withhold or withdraw from sight)

Glory Samjolly(British, born 1997)Dear Archives

Walter Whall Battiss(South African, 1906-1982)Three Fook Stamps

Alison Turner(British, born 1976)At The Hands Of The Enslaved, Our Society Was Built

Stuart Bird(South African, born 1977)Zuma Biscuits 2 x 5 x 7cm (13/16 x 1 15/16 x 2 3/4in). (each) (4)

Neequaye Dreph Dsane(British, born 1973)Dress Code

Gail Deborah Catlin(South African, born 1948)Female nude

Kione Grandison(British, born 1996)Let Us Not Forget

Norman Clive Catherine(South African, born 1949)Fook Dog

Alvin Kofi(British, born 1961)The Longitude Of Culture

Guy du Toit(South African, born 1958)Little Deaths

Kazvare Knox(Zimbabwean, born 1986)Someone's Been Stealing Our Things