Philip Alexius de László, P.R.B.A.

Phillips, 8 March 1994, lot 29

London, M. Knoedler & Co, Portraits by Philip A. de László, M.V.O., 21 June-22 July 1933, no.4.

Life, 24 November 1947, p.36.

Original canvas. Undulating slightly in the upper corners, the work appears in good overall condition. The varnish has discoloured and will benefit significantly from cleaning. Ultraviolet light reveals an opaque varnish which makes a conclusive reading difficult. There are localised retouchings to the background above the woman's head, to her finger and a horizontal line of retouching in the upper left corner which corresponds to a patch on the reverse. Held under perspex in a simple modern frame, would benefit from being reframed.
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De László made very few portraits of mothers and their children and this work can be considered amongst his most successful in that genre. Two preparatory studies for this picture remain in the collection of a descendant of the artist.

Myrtle Johnson was born 24 April 1896 in Chicago, Illinois, the daughter of Edward Johnson and his wife Augusta Ackerbery. The sitter adopted the stage name Myrtle Thoreau as a cast member of the Ziegfeld Follies 1923-25. ^[1]At the end of the 1924 theatrical season she visited Deauville, France, where she met Claude Moss Leigh^[2] (1888-1964), a widower and wealthy London estate agent. They married 11 February 1925 in Marylebone Registry Office. Their daughter Virginia was born 14 January 1930 and she is thus a little over three years old in this portrait. 

In the 1930s the Leighs lived at 25 Upper Brook Street, London, and maintained a country home at Foliejon Park, in Windsor Great Park. Their names appeared regularly in the London and New York society pages and they were famously hosts of the “Gay Nineties” ball in London in December 1933. They divorced in 1940, and by 1942 Mrs. Leigh was a resident of the Plaza Hotel, New York.  On 18 November 1944 she married Frank Delaney, a well-known New York attorney, in Arlington, Virginia.

This portrait was illustrated in Life magazine at the time of Virginia Leigh’s début 22 December 1947 at the annual Debutante Cotillion and Christmas Ball at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. ^[3] The sitters are pictured standing in front of the portrait at their New York home. Virginia was widely known as the “debutante of the year,” serving on the debutante committee of the Metropolitan Opera and gracing the cover of Look magazine in 1948.

[1]  The Ziegfeld Follies were a series of elaborate theatrical productions on Broadway in New York City from 1907 through 1931 and were inspired by the Folies Bergères of Paris
[2]Née Levy, he had changed his surname in 1921
[3]Life, 24 November 1947, p. 36

 

We are grateful to Katherine Field and Matt Davies for writing the catalogue entry for this portrait, which will be included in the Philip de László catalogue raisonné, currently presented in progress online: www.delaszlocatalogueraisonne.com  

 The Hon. Mrs de Laszlo and a team of editors are compiling the catalogue raisonné of the artist’s entire oeuvre. Katherine Field is the British Editor and Matt Davies the American Editor.  Please see www.delaszloarchivetrust.com or contact catalogue@delaszlo.com for more information