Sir George Clausen, R.A., R.W.S., R.I.

Christie's, London, 6 November 1992, lot 2;
Martyn Gregory, London, July 2003

The sheet does not appear to be laid down. Cockled slightly otherwise in good condition. Held in simple wooden frame with cream mount under glass; unexamined out of frame. The original backboard is separate from its present frame and will be sold together with the 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."

George Clausen was the most important painter of English rural life at the turn of the 20th century. More than any of his contemporaries he was identified with the daily activities of country people, and his visual imagery of English fields was illustrated in numerous magazine articles, such as Country Life, and popular literature, such as the writings of Richard Jefferies, Peter Hempson Ditchfield and George Sturt; it was not uncommon for him to be described as 'the Thomas Hardy of Painting.' 

Clausen moved to the village of Widdington, Essex in 1891, renting the spacious Bishop House for his wife and five children. Labour-intensive arable farming persisted in the large surrounding fields, which Clausen was quick to observe in a new body of work produced. In 1895, Clausen began three long series of farmyard, harvester and barn interior pictures - 'themes designed to demonstrate the cohesion of what he considered an ideal social microcosm' (Kenneth McConkey, George Clausen, 2012, p.124). The present study relates to the barn series, of which his most notable oil is perhaps The Golden Barn, 1901 (Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool). These works depict boys at work, winnowing, sifting and sacking grain within a cavernous barn, lit by a grey light which, as the The Athenaeum commented, 'give a sense of dignity and vastness' (18 May 1901, p.636). At a time when the current conditions of rural life were a matter of national concern (with only a quarter of the grain required by Britain home-produced), these works assumed a symbolic significance, the barn a shrine to the 'back to the land movement' of the 1890s.

The formal problems of light and shade fascinated Clausen in the barn series, which is keenly and evocatively felt in the present work, the light illuminating the old rafts of the barn and the toil of the workers below.