Patrick Heron

Heron Family
Waddington Galleries, London, where acquired by the present owner

London, Waddington Galleries, Patrick Heron: Early Paintings 1945-1955, 25th October - 18th November 2000, cat. no.2, illustrated p.16.

Original canvas. There is a very small area of paint separation to the orange and yellow pigment to the left of the kettle; otherwise the work appears in excellent original condition. Under ultraviolet light there appear to be no signs of retouching. Float-mounted within a gilt plaster frame. Please call the department on 0207 293 6424 if you have any questions about 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.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Painted in 1945-46, the present work is a significant early example of Heron's oeuvre that hints to the abstract-figurative idiom he developed into the mid-1950s. We see planes of colour, a distorted picture space, flattened perspective and an interest in exploring the relationship between lines, seen in the curved forms of the kettle against the grid of the stove, echoed behind in the curtain next to the window and the yellow cross-hatching. At this stage however, there is still a sense of exploration in the work - the subject remains relatively representational and is yet to incorporate more fully the lines of delineation that divide and structure his compositions more emphatically in the years to follow.

Gas Stove with Kettle and Saucepan: 1945 - 1946 belongs to a series of works during 1945 and early 1946 that concentrated on stove-top still lifes, such as The Gas Stove, 1946. They were directly inspired by the wartime paintings of Picasso on that theme, which he saw at the Victorian and Albert exhibition in December 1945. Picasso, Heron said, 'made the gas stove into a sacred object.' Recently married and domestically settled in a London flat, one can see how the dynamic animism of Picasso's war-time paintings of kitchen objects resonated with Heron.

The use of such everyday objects as subject matter was not limited to Heron alone in Britain, being a common currency in British art at the time, especially true of Heron's close friend William Scott. However, whereas Scott's interiors of the early 1950s tend toward a darker tonality with a strong emphasis on the paint surface Heron's work, as illustrated here, incorporates an arrangement of interplaying, flat areas of bright colour to define the forms, moving towards a more schematic, formal complexity. The relationship in subject matter between Scott and Heron may in part be, as Heron acknowledged himself, due to the fact that few painters of their generation and outlook had such close experience of the French masters. It was this knowledge, combined with Heron's distinct artistic outlook, that compelled him to continually push the boundaries of his abstract-figurative idiom, first suggested in examples as the present and culminating in the purely abstract 'stripe' paintings of 1957 onwards.   

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.