Walter Richard Sickert, A.R.A.

A gift from the Artist to Lady Blanche Hozier and thence by descent to Mary Soames

London, Tate Gallery, Sickert Paintings and Drawings, 18^th May – 19^thJune 1960, cat.no.63, with tour to Southampton Art Gallery and Bradford City Art Gallery.

Wendy Baron, Sickert, Paintings and Drawings, Yale University Press, New Haven & London, 2006, cat.no.154.9, p.258, cat.no.146.2, illustrated p.252 and cat.no. 141.7, p.248.

 

Both drawings are fully laid down onto supporting sheets. There are pin holes at the upper corners of both works, which are probably the result of the artist's working method. There are some very minor tears, creases and losses at the extreme edge of the sheets. There also appears to be some discolouration to the extreme edges. This is probably the result of staining from previous acidic housing and is only visible when the drawings are viewed out of the mount. The watercolour pigments across the works appear to have faded slightly and there is some evidence of surface dirt. Subject to the above the works appear to be in good and stable condition. The drawings are presented in a book mount and framed together in a simple square profile natural wood frame. Please contact the department on +44 (0) 207 293 6424 if you have any questions regarding the present lot.
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We are grateful to Wendy Baron for her kind assistance with the cataloguing of the present work.

Clementine’s mother, Lady Blanche, took her four children to live in Dieppe in the late summer of 1899.  A charming and attractive woman, she soon made many friends, especially among the bohemian and artistic circles of Dieppe society.  At this time Sickert lived in Neuville-les-Dieppe, the part of town mostly inhabited by the sea-fishing community.  He became a dear friend of Lady Blanche's and gave her the present drawings. 

Mary Soanes reccounts that while shopping with her mother, Clementine would often find Sickert sketching or painting in the picturesque old squares and street of Dieppe.  One day, when she had stopped to look at his painting, Sickert asked her, ‘Do you like my work?’ After rather a long pause Clementine replied, ‘Yes.’ Noticing her hesitation, Sickert said ‘What is it you don’t like?’ With characteristic truthfulness Clementine replied, ‘Well, Mr Sickert, you seem to see everything with dirty eyes.’  Sickert was not the least bit put out by her candour, and subsequently asked her to tea (Mary Soames, Winston Churchill: His Life as a Painter, William Collins Sons & Co., London, 1990, p.60-61).  This was the start of a lifelong friendship which was to prove of enormous consequence to Winton and his painting many years later.

The following work has been requested for loan by Pallant House Gallery for their forthcoming exhibition Walter Sickert in Dieppe, from 4th July - 4th October 2015.