Footnotes

Provenance
Jack Beddington
Hans & Elsbeth Juda
Their sale; Sotheby's, London, 26 April 1972, lot 132, where acquired by the father of the present owner
Private Collection, U.K.

Exhibited
Sheffield, Graves Art Gallery, In Our View: Some Paintings and Sculpture bought by Hans & Elsbeth Juda between 1931-1967, May-June 1967, cat.no.160

Literature
Eric Newton, Christopher Wood, Redfern Gallery, London, 1938, cat.no.9
Exh.Cat., Robert Melville, In Our View: Some Paintings and Sculpture bought by Hans & Elsbeth Juda between 1931-1967, Graves Art Gallery, Sheffield, 1967, n.p., cat.no.160 (ill.b&w)

For Christopher Wood the year 1922, his twenty-first, was to be the year his artistic aspirations accelerated at a profound rate. In January he wrote to his mother stating 'My ambition as I said is to be a great painter and as I am learning now I shall stand every chance of becoming one' (quoted in Richard Ingleby, Christopher Wood, An English Painter, Allison & Busby, London, 1995 p.52). By early summer his sights were set much higher. In June he would again write to his mother declaring 'I have decided to try and be the greatest painter that has ever lived' (Ibid p.59).

Wood's charismatic bravado is by no means unique among young artists, however as the following years were to prove his assuredness was quite merited. Throughout the 1920s, Wood led a fascinating and fabled existence, connecting with many great artists including Picasso, Cocteau and Lhote on the continent, and the Nicholsons, Morris and John in Britain. He exhibited successfully, including as a member of The Seven and Five Society, and developed an idiosyncratic painterly vocabulary which joyfully fused post-impressionism and primitivism. The meteoric rise of his star was tragically cut short by suicide just a decade into his career. Despite his short years, it is generally accepted that without Wood's contributions and connections, the history of modern British painting could have taken a different course entirely.

The present painting is a rare example dating to the year in which Wood's ambition was at its peak, and his artistry was enlivened by a rich array of influences. With minimal formal training to date, his talent and charm had already attracted the attention of a wealthy collector named Alphonse Kahn. Kahn's renowned collection of modern paintings afforded Wood close access to works by Cézanne, Matisse and the Old Masters, and his sponsorship enabled Wood to study in Paris at the Académie Julian, whilst living in Montmartre. There Wood became acquainted with the Chilean diplomat José Antonio de Gandarillas, with whom he would travel extensively. In February of 1922 Wood and Gandarillas toured Northern Europe, including Brussels, Ghent and the Netherlands. Spring would take them to the South of France and the casinos of Monte Carlo, before crossing the Mediterranean to Tunis and on to Sicily, Malta and Greece. In August they set sail from Athens to Constantinople, before weaving through central Europe back to London in autumn.

Throughout he painted a small number of still-lifes, such as the present work and Lemons in a Blue Basket (Pallant House, Chichester). These paintings display Wood's early prowess as a colourist, and as noted by Katy Norris reveal that Wood 'seemed to understand that the creation of emotional narrative was related to the sensuous qualities of the objects and the manner in which they were held together within the space' (Katy Norris, exh.cat., Christopher Wood, Lund Humphries, London, 2016, p.33). Such works are informed in part by Cézanne, especially in composition, but also by Van Gogh, whose letters Wood discovered in 1922 and whom he would develop an adoration of. Specifically, it is Wood's flower paintings which can be considered the fruit of this idolisation. As Katy Norris highlights 'Wood observed a perfect synergy between the simplicity of Van Gogh's paintings and his modest rural existence that was to have a determining impact on the young artist's own approach to art and life' (Ibid. p.46).

The present work was formerly in the collection of Hans and Elsbeth Juda. Hans Juda (1904-1975) founded The Ambassador export journal for textiles and fashion, and Elsbeth Juda (1911-2014) was a pioneering fashion and art photographer whose subjects included Henry Moore, John Piper, Kenneth Armitage, Peter Blake, and Graham Sutherland, whom she photographed in 1954 on the occasion of Winston Churchill's final sitting for Sutherland's famously ill-fated portrait of the statesman.

We are grateful to Robert Upstone for his assistance in cataloguing this lot.