Gandhi, Mohandas K.--Amshewitz, J.H.

full length, depicting him seated on the floor and writing, pencil, signed, dated, and titled by the artist ("'Gandhi' | JH Amshewitz | Nov. 1931"), additionally inscribed in ink over the image by Gandhi ("Truth is God | MK Gandhi | 4.12.'31"), 285 x 235 mm, framed and glazed (frame size 415 x 360mm), light spotting

S.B. Amshewtitz, The Paintings of J.H. Amshewitz (1951)

Condition is described in the main body of the catalogue, where appropriate.
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AN UNKNOWN PENCIL SKETCH OF GANDHI, DRAWN FROM LIFE AND INSCRIBED BY THE SITTER. John Henry Amshewitz (1882-1942) was a versatile artist who had been trained under Sargent at the Royal Academy Schools. He was a cartoonist and illustrator as well as a member of the London Society of Portrait Painters, although he is now best-known for his South African scenes (he lived in South Africa from 1916-22 and again from 1936 until his death). Gandhi would not sit for formal photographs, let alone a portraitist, so Amshewitz had to sketch him at his daily tasks; this sketch, in which he is writing with a look of intense concentration, gives a strong impression of Gandhi at work. Amshewitz produced a number of portraits of Gandhi in both pencil and oil when Gandhi was visiting London for the Round Table Conference (September-December 1931). Gandhi stayed at Kingsley Hall, a community centre in London's East End, at the invitation of Muriel Lester, one of Kingsley Hall's founders, who had previously stayed at Gandhi's ashram. One of Amshewitz's oil studies was acquired by the African Museum in Johannesburg and another was later gifted by Gandhi's close associate, the Quaker leader Horace Alexander, to the British Library. This pencil portrait, which was inscribed by Gandhi the day before he left Kingsley Hall, was given to a local resident who was closely associated with the Lester sisters and Kingsley Hall throughout her life.