Ceri Richards

Redfern Gallery, London, where acquired by Julian Trevelyan, October 1944

The sheet is affixed to the backing board with four pieces of tape, one at the centre of each of the edges. There are pinholes around the edges of the sheet, with some associated tears in places, thought to be in keeping with the artist's working method and only visible when viewed unframed. The left, right and upper edges of the sheet are deckled, and the lower edge is slightly unevenly cut, thought to be in keeping with the artist's materials. The sheet undulates slightly in places. There are several tears, creases and losses apparent to the lower edge, some of which are a result of the aforementioned pin holes, none of which are visible in the original mount. There is some fading to the pigments, only apparent when viewed unframed. There are one or two spots of craquelure to some of the thicker areas of gouache and ink, with some small flecks of associated lifting and loss in places, most apparent to the white pigment at the top of the leftmost column. Subject to the above, the work appears to be in very good overall condition, with vivid colours throughout. The work is window mounted and presented in a painted wooden frame, held under glass. Please telephone the department on +44 (0) 207 293 6424 if you have any questions regarding the present work.
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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."

Ceri Richards was a close friend to Julian Trevelyan; he lived around the corner in St Peter's Square and taught with him at Chelsea School of Art. They shared a love of music and he and Trevelyan would play the piano and oboe together at Durham Wharf. Richards also participated in Trevelyan's  'Picture Lending Library' in which pictures by local artists were loaned and sold to local buyers.

'...he was obsessed with Picasso, and, ... he spent his lunch hours making photostat copies of reproductions from Picasso books he could not afford to buy .. Ceri is very Welsh, impenetrable as a Sphinx in some quarters, naïve as a child in others; he is Welsh too in his love of music which plays a large part in his life, and symbolically, in his paintings.' (Julian Trevelyan, Indigo Days, Macgibbon & Kee, London, 1957, p.56)