Mary Swanzy, H.R.H.A.

Pyms Gallery, London

The canvas is lined. There are some minor spots of staining otherwise in good overall condition. Under ultraviolet light, there appear to be no signs of retouching. Held in a stained wood frame.
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The bright colours and curved yet architectonic forms of the present work reflect the avant garde developements Swanzy would have experienced as a student in Paris circa 1905 - 1906.  She would have witnessed the 1905 Salon d'Automne at first hand when the Fauves were first labelled as the 'Wild Beasts' and she also would probably have visited Cézanne's memorial exhibition in 1907. Whilst the shapes of A view of Trees with Town beyond relate to the style of Robert Delaunay and André Lhote, the salon cubists she was inspired by in the 1920s and 30s, the peaceful enviroment of the present work is rather more reminiscent of the calm atmosphere embued in Cézanne's series of landscapes at Mont St Victoire executed towards the end of his life. A View of Trees was most likely painted at Grasse in the of France where Swanzy stayed in the late 1920s.