Christopher Wood

The Redfern Gallery, London, where acquired by Derek Monsey and Yvonne Mitchell in 1965, and thence by descent to the present owner

London, New Burlington Galleries, Christopher Wood: Exhibition of Complete Works, 3rd March - 2nd April 1938, cat. no.269;
London, The Redfern Galleries, Christopher Wood, November 1965, cat. no.99.

Original canvas. There are signs of paint separation in areas across the surface and small lines of craquelure, the most visible of which are the vertical line across the nude's chest and lines to the leg, underarms and to the right of the models' mouth; otherwise the work appears in good overall condition. Under ultraviolet light there is an uneven varnish and certain areas flouresce, particularly along the edges of the paint surface. These appear to be the work of the artist and variants in the pigment. Held in a composition frame with a canvas inset under glass; unexamined out of frame. Please telephone the department on 0207 293 6424 if you have any questions about the present work.
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Wood generally found painting from professional models unsatisfactory, and thus amongst his figure paintings, far and away the most successful are his images of those who were close to him. By 1926-7, he had also matured as an artist, his handling of paint allowing his own voice to speak out, and the portraits of this period offer us some of his most distinctive images. Those close to Wood begin to come to life as people rather than just likenesses, and so we see figures such as Tony Gandarillas, Max Jacob and Constant Lambert becoming actual characters rather than just names on the page. Not least of these is Wood himself, whose large 1927 Self-Portrait (Kettle's Yard Collection, Cambridge) is a statement of his growing confidence as both a painter and person. Unusually large for Wood, everything in the painting, the pose, the attributes, the harlequin pullover and the Parisian backdrop, all declare his self-perception as an artist at the hub of the Paris scene.

Yet, whilst Wood was making such a bold statement in paint, his private life was entering a more than usually turbulent phase. He had already met Meraud Guinness, the daughter of Benjamin Guinness and very much part of a fast, fashionable, rich set, in 1925 but she reappeared in Wood's world in 1927 when they met in Cannes. Wood's letters of the period to his friends Ben and Winifred Nicholson suggest that he was perhaps looking for a serious relationship of some form with a woman, and the renewing of the connection with Meraud saw Wood throwing himself into the affair. The apparent unsuitability of a Wood as a potential partner for Meraud in the eyes of her family was clear very early on ('...her mother and father would like her to marry a duke...'(The Artist, in correspondence with his mother, 21^st September 1927)), and his letters of the period strike a curious note of recognition and acceptance of this. By October Meraud and her set had left the south of France and Wood remained behind, painting.

This might have remained a summer romance, filled with 'what if?' memories, had it not been for their reunion, at Wood's request, in Paris in the early days of 1928. Suddenly the position had changed, Meraud was not going to follow her family's wishes and they were going to marry as soon as possible. She left a note for her family announcing that she and Wood were in fact already married. However, this imposture soon became clear when it transpired that Meraud had left her passport behind in Paris and thus could neither marry in France nor travel back to England and marry there. At this point, her parents put their foot down, giving her a large allowance, a flat in Monaco and a degree of independence from the family on the condition she did not see Wood for a period of time which never quite seemed to be defined. If they still felt the same at the end of this period, they would be given permission to marry. Although his letters are filled with bold statements about how this would be achieved and love would triumph, one senses that Wood, and perhaps Meraud too, knew that the dream was over.

This wonderfully sensual nude almost certainly depicts Meraud, and comparison with the few available photographs of her at this time seems to confirm the identification. The same sitter appears in an apparently contemporary seated version, sold at Christie's 22^nd November 2002, lot 32, which uses some of the same flowers found in the still-life of the present painting and employs the same rich blue cushion. Both paintings exude an air of intimacy, and the frankness and closeness of the depiction of this reclining figure clearly suggest a charged atmosphere. Purchased by the family of the current owners in 1965, this marvellous example of Wood's work has been almost entirely unknown to collectors and scholars of his painting for decades, and its re-emergence helps us to add further to our knowledge of Wood and his life at this crucial period of his career.