Patrick Heron

Heron Family 
Waddington Galleries, London
Wilson Stephens Fine Art, London, where acquired by the present owner in 2003 

London, The Redfern Gallery, Patrick Heron, 27th April - 20th May 1950, cat. no.14;
London, The Redfern Gallery, Abstract, Cubist, Formalist, Sur-realist, 13th April - 8th May 1954, cat. no.475; 
London, Waddington Galleries, Patrick Heron: Early Paintings 1945 - 1955, 25th October - 18th November 2000, cat. no.9, illustrated p.23.

David Sylvester, Art News and Review, 'Patrick Heron: Redfern Gallery', vol.II, 6th May 1950, p.3.

Original canvas. Generally the work is in excellent original condition. Clean and ready to hang. There is a very minor surface scuff beneath the signature. Ultraviolet light reveals a line of fluorescence to the aforementioned scratch, but this does not appear to be retouching. Held under glass in a stained wood frame; unexamined out of frame. Please telephone the department on +44 207 293 6424 if you have any questions regarding the present lot.
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Patrick Heron's work of the 1940s and early 1950s reveals an approach to painting balanced between the impulse to abstraction and figurative representation. They employ lively, wandering lines and blocks of bright, flat colour. This method of composing his works went beyond a simple registering of the visual appearance of things, what he termed the 'camera eye', and allowed for greater means of expression.

This approach reveals Heron's close study of the French masters, in particular Braque, Picasso and Matisse, of which he was at the forefront amongst his artistic peers in Britain. In 1946, Heron had visited an exhibition at the Tate of Braque's work and had greatly admired the painter's ability to create space and depth with planes of pure colour. He visited Braque's studio in 1949 and encountered first-hand his magisterial Atelier interiors which deeply impressed him, in particular the idea of the 'transparency' of objects through continuous and overlapping lines. It was also an opportunity to look closely at the work of Derain and Vlaminck, and these experiences reveal the French flavour of his works from this period, especially in his use of colour.

Two Women in Café: 1949 exemplifies these influences. An upturned table-top, a feature of several works around this time, and a large black stove overlap and interlink with the figures. When discussing Braque's interiors, Heron wrote that 'human beings appear more or less on equal terms' with the great variety of objects he included, and Heron suggests it is this that endows them with 'life and dignity' (quoted in Mel Gooding, Patrick Heron, London, Phaidon, 1994, p.52). To this end, the present work succeeds superbly and his arrangement holds the various elements together in tension, which invests the painting with an engaging abstract energy. Viewing the work retrospectively, it reveals how Heron was moving towards what he described as non-figurative abstraction, seen most fully in the 'garden' and 'stripe' paintings of 1956-57.

The Patrick Heron Estate is preparing the forthcoming catalogue raisonné of the Artist's work and would like to hear from owners of any work by Patrick Heron so that these can be included in this comprehensive catalogue. Please write to Susanna Heron , c/o Sotheby's, Modern & Post War British Art, 34-35 New Bond Street, London, W1A 2AA.