Lot 76
  • 76

DUNCAN GRANT | Tents

Estimate
30,000 - 50,000 GBP
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Description

  • Attributed to Duncan Grant
  • Tents
  • signed
  • oil on board
  • 66 by 78cm.; 26 by 30¾in.
  • Executed in 1913.

Provenance

Acquired by Mary Hutchinson in 1914 and thence by descent to the late owner

Exhibited

London, Wallace Collection, XXth Venice Biennale International, 1940, cat. no.133;
London, Academy Hall, 40 Years of Modern Art. A Selection from British Collections, 1948, illustrated pl.18;
London, Tate, Duncan Grant: A Retrospective Exhibition, 1959, cat. no.29, with Arts Council Tour;
London, Tate, The Art of Bloomsbury: Roger Fry, Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant, 4th November 1999 - 30th January 2000, cat. no.73, illustrated p.150, with tour to The Huntington, San Marino and Yale Center for British Art, New Haven.

Literature

Roger Fry, Duncan Grant, Hogarth Press, London, 1923, illustrated pl.7;
Raymond Mortimer, Duncan Grant, Penguin Modern Painters, Penguin Books, Harmondsworth, 1944, illustrated pl.2.

Condition

The board is affixed to a further backing board but does not appear fully laid down. The board undulates slightly but appears stable. There is some rounding to the extreme upper right corner, with some associated historic and very minor lifting. There are old areas of compression to the lower left corner and at further isolated instances along the extreme edges. There is a very small rupture to the board towards the upper right corner, possibly as a result of a pin or nail. There is a very small loss to the centre of the extreme lower edge, which appears to be inherent to the backing. There is a very small horizontal loss to the upper third of the extreme right edge and one or two further extremely minor flecks of loss at the lower edge. There is one fleck of loss towards the lower edge, just to the left of centre, with one or two possible further more minor instances elsewhere. There are very faint marks towards the extreme upper and lower edges, consistent with a previous frame. There is some surface dirt and detritus in places. Subject to the above, the work appears in very good overall condition. Inspection under ultraviolet light reveals fluorescence and possible restoration to a couple of spots in the upper left corner, possibly in line with previous frame abrasion. The work is held within a canvas and gilt painted composite frame. Please telephone the department on +44 (0) 207 293 6424 if you have any questions regarding the present work.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Catalogue Note

We are grateful to Richard Shone for his kind assistance with the cataloguing of the present work. 

‘Are you seriously on the look out for a Duncan?... there is what I consider a very good one going – tents and trees; I suppose it costs about twenty pounds’. (Clive Bell, letter to Mary Hutchinson, 16 July 1914, Humanities Research Center, University of Texas).

In August 1913, Grant joined a large camping party at Brandon near Thetford on the Suffolk/Norfolk border. Several tents were set up at the edge of a field and campers included Maynard Keynes who was there for the 12 day duration of the trip as well as Clive and Vanessa Bell, Roger Fry, Adrian Stephen and Molly MacCarthy. The gathering proved to be particularly inspirational and Grant painted two versions of the present work, the other slightly looser with a more naturalistic colour palette. Vanessa Bell completed Summer Camp (1913, Private Collection) and later one of her most successful designs for the Omega Workshops: Painted Omega Screen (Tents and Figures) (1913, Victoria and Albert Museum, London). The underlying geometry and confident brushwork of the present painting immediately reveal Grant’s knowledge and understanding of avant-garde developments in France and most notably the lessons of Cézanne which he assimilated into his own dynamic style, seen here at its best.