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Lot 69AR
Helen Bradley(British, 1900-1979)Great Aunt Jane Telling a Story 33.3 x 24 cm. (13 1/8 x 9 3/8 in.)
21 June 2023, 15:00 BST
London, New Bond StreetSold for £19,200 inc. premium
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Helen Bradley (British, 1900-1979)
Great Aunt Jane Telling a Story
signed 'HELEN BRADLEY' and with fly insignia (lower left); titled 'Gt Aunt Jane telling a Story' (on a studio label attached to the verso); inscribed '"Oh look George, if Great Aunt Jane hasnt gone to/sleep again, just when she was getting to the/nicest part." She was telling us a most beautiful/story about God who has just come to live/quite near to her, in a shed on the lonely moor/near Harts Head Pike. Mother said, "Hush children/let Great Aunt Jane sleep, she's getting very old./She's only having a little cat-nap and will soon/waken"; so George and I sat very still and soon/she opened her eyes and said, "Dear me, children, I/must have just dropped off, where was I", and she/went on to tell us that God would order the 'Thing'/which lived on the moors, and if it saw children, it would/bite them, I know God would say to it, "Be off with you",/and it would run over the hill to Mossley. When/we were going home down the lonely lane, George said that/he could hear it coming, but I wasnt afraid because I/knew God was near and would look after me, and the year was/1906.' (on an artist's label attached to the verso)
oil on canvas board
33.3 x 24 cm. (13 1/8 x 9 3/8 in.)
signed 'HELEN BRADLEY' and with fly insignia (lower left); titled 'Gt Aunt Jane telling a Story' (on a studio label attached to the verso); inscribed '"Oh look George, if Great Aunt Jane hasnt gone to/sleep again, just when she was getting to the/nicest part." She was telling us a most beautiful/story about God who has just come to live/quite near to her, in a shed on the lonely moor/near Harts Head Pike. Mother said, "Hush children/let Great Aunt Jane sleep, she's getting very old./She's only having a little cat-nap and will soon/waken"; so George and I sat very still and soon/she opened her eyes and said, "Dear me, children, I/must have just dropped off, where was I", and she/went on to tell us that God would order the 'Thing'/which lived on the moors, and if it saw children, it would/bite them, I know God would say to it, "Be off with you",/and it would run over the hill to Mossley. When/we were going home down the lonely lane, George said that/he could hear it coming, but I wasnt afraid because I/knew God was near and would look after me, and the year was/1906.' (on an artist's label attached to the verso)
oil on canvas board
33.3 x 24 cm. (13 1/8 x 9 3/8 in.)
Footnotes
Provenance
With W.H. Patterson, London, 1981
Sale; Christie's, London, 4 June 1999, lot 262, where acquired by the present owner
Private Collection, U.K.
Literature
Helen Bradley, 'In the beginning' said Great Aunt Jane, Jonathan Cape Ltd, London, 1975, p.3 (col.ill.)
Ina Taylor, Helen Bradley's Lancashire, Halsgrove in association with Helen Bradley Prints Ltd, Tiverton and Bolton, 2002, p.82 (col.ill.) (as We Looked Forward to Tuesday)
Together with a with a copy of 'In the beginning' said Great Aunt Jane by Helen Bradley.