Merlyn Evans

Mrs Margerie Evans
Private Collection, from whom acquired by the present owner

London, The Lefevre Gallery, Abstract Paintings by 9 British Artists, March 1939, no.41;
London, The Whitechapel Gallery, Merlyn Evans Paintings, Drawings and Etchings, October - November 1956, no.17, illustrated in the catalogue, pl.11;
London, Hayward Gallery, Thirties: British Art and Design before the War, October 1979 - January 1980, no.650;
Paris, Galerie 1900-2000, Les Enfants d'Alice: La Peinture Surrealiste en Angleterre, 1930-1960, 1982, no.48, illustrated in the catalogue, p.45;
London, Tate Gallery, The Political Paintings of Merlyn Evans 1930-1950, 27 March - 2 June 1985, no.9, illustrated in the catalogue, p.12 (in colour) and p.14 (in black and white);
Leeds, Leeds City Art Galleries, Surrealism in Britain in the Thirties, 1986, no.196, illustrated in the catalogue, p.188; 
Canterbury, The Herbert Read Gallery, Canterbury College of Art, Surrealism in England: 1936 and After, 1986, no.46, illustrated in the catalogue, p.23, and toured to The National Museum of Wales, Cardiff and The Laing Gallery, Newcastle;
London, Whitford and Hughes, The Surrealist Spirit in Britain, May 1988, no.15, illustrated in the catalogue.

Natal, South Africa, The Common Room, July 1938;
Durban, South Africa, The Daily News, 15^th August 1938.

There are some tiny abrasions to the canvas edges but otherwise the canvas is in good original condition. There are some minor abrasions to the paint surface along the edges of the canvas which may be inherent to the work. Otherwise the paint surface is in good overall condition. Examination under ultra-violet light reveals some fluorescence along the left edge which may be the artist's reworking. Held under glass in a wooden frame. Please telephone the department on 020 7293 5381 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.
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Painted just before Evans' departure for South Africa where he would become a lecturer at Natal Art College in May 1938, the present painting appears to have remained in England, and was shown at a Lefevre Gallery exhibition early the following year. However, it was clearly a work that Evans felt exemplified much that was important in his art at that time, as it was illustrated in the magazine of the Natal Technical College. Alongside the illustration, Evans included a surreal explanatory text which must have been fuelled by his recent discussions with the Surrealist Group, his readings of Freud and the unfolding atrocities of the Spanish Civil War pictured by Picasso in his Guernica which Evans saw in Paris the summer before. In the text, Evans describes how 'the sky burns like a furnace and in the background the white-hot embers of a dying cactus arrange themselves like a dying Roman gladiator wrapped in the mandibles of a giant crustacean'.