David Bomberg

The Artist
Howard H. Manning, and thence by descent to the present owner

London, Cooling Galleries, David Bomberg, June 1936, cat. no.37;
London, The Arts Council of Great Britain, Paintings and Drawings by David Bomberg, 1958, cat. no.31;
Coventry, Herbert Art Gallery, David Bomberg 1890 - 1957: Paintings and Drawings, 3rd - 24th September 1960, cat. no.56;
London, The Arts Council of Great Britain, David Bomberg: Paintings and Drawings, 2nd March - 9th April 1967, cat. no.62.

Richard Cork, David Bomberg, Yale University Press, New Haven and London, 1987, p.217, illustrated pl.217.

Original canvas. There are scattered areas of old paint separation. There are spots of craquelure to isolated areas across the surface, including to the very outer edges, a circular pattern which corresponds to a knock in the upper right quadrant, a further circular pattern to the centre of the composition, spots in the sky, and a few further spots to the mountains, one of which appears to be slightly lifting in the upper right quadrant. There are some minor frame abrasions to the very outer edges, but these are not visible when the work is framed. The surface is dirty, and the varnish may be slightly discoloured, and may benefit from a light clean. Ultraviolet light reveals a few spots of fluorescence to the very outer edges, which may be retouching to old frame abrasion. The surface has been covered with an uneven varnish, which makes the reading difficult to interpret, but the other visible spots of fluorescence do not appear to be retouching. Held in a gilt and painted wooden frame. Please telephone the department on +44 207 293 6424 if you have any questions regarding the present lot.
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In the summer of 1935, Bomberg and his family travelled north from Ronda to the Asturias region of Spain, an isolated and mountainous part of the country near the northern coast of the peninsular. Journeying into the dramatic landscape of the Picos de Europa mountains, the family settled in the tiny village of Linares, and for four months Bomberg explored this wild world of peaks, gorges and intense light. Lodging in a mountain farmhouse, they soon found that even in a Spain that was still backwards by comparison with the rest of Europe, this area was even more so, and the customs and life of the people seemed to have changed little since the medieval period.

However, it was the landscape that became the most intense inspiration for Bomberg. The region experienced an incredible variety and changeability in its weather and thus offered the artist an ever-changing range of conditions in which to experience the landscape. On one expedition he travelled alone to climb the Naranco de Bulnes, one of the highest peaks in the area, a trip so gruelling it almost killed the donkey he travelled with. The paintings that resulted from this four month sojourn include some of the most dramatic Bomberg ever produced, and indeed when one compares canvases which offer alternate renditions of the same view, we begin to see just how extreme the variations must have been. In some paintings, such as Storm over Penarrubia (Private Collection) the lowering, bruised sky hovers above the roofs of the settlement in the valley, the sense of the oncoming storm on the timeless landscape filling the viewer with a desire for shelter. In Sunlight in the Mountains, Asturias we are subjected to the intense heat of a sun high in the sky. The buildings almost melt into the landscape, the branches of the tree in the right foreground sagging listlessly under the onslaught. We know there is no breath of wind to give us relief, the heat bouncing back at us from every surface. Even the paint itself seems to be on the verge of dissolving into a shimmering pool, and the hot ochres, oranges and reds are almost the colours of a furnace. Compare this with Sunrise in the Mountains, Picos de Asturias (Private Collection), painted from almost exactly the same spot outside Bomberg's home and we see how that day may have begun, with the dawn sun drawing back the night shadows on the hillside.

Whilst Bomberg had clearly found a landscape that inspired him, events in the wider world were to curtail his stay. By October of 1935, political tensions and unrest in Spain were becoming unmanageable and the Bombergs realised that civil war was imminent. They packed quickly and within forty-eight hours were en route to Santander where they managed to get a berth on a small cargo boat leaving for England.

The enforced removal from Spain brought a cruel break to Bomberg's work. For the next few years he struggled to achieve the same levels of accomplishment in his painting, and rarely was he to find subjects that allowed him the freedom of his Spanish paintings. Toledo, Cuenca, Ronda, each had offered him ways to bring life and vigour to his painting, but in the short time he spent in the Asturias Mountains, Bomberg was able to create paintings that transcend much of his earlier output, finding a confidence and liberation that he would rarely find consistently again.