Duncan Grant

Duncan Grant

1885 - 1978

Still Life

signed D. Grant. and dated /60 (lower right)

oil on canvas

unframed: 39.5 by 52cm.; 15½ by 20½in.

framed: 57 by 70cm.; 22½ by 27½in.

Executed in 1960.

Southover Gallery, Lewes, where acquired by Penguin Art Collection, August 1974

Sale, Christie's London, 6 March 1987, lot 218, where acquired by previous owner

Gifted to the present owner, 2012

Lewes, Southover Gallery, July - August 1974 

The present work was painted at La Souco, the home of Simon and Dorothy Bussy at Roquebrune in the South of France. Grant and Vanessa Bell were 'tenants' in the house from January to April 1960.

Painted in 1960 this work coincides with a particularly profound period of Duncan Grant’s life. His life partner of almost fifty years, Vanessa Bell, died in April, leaving him devastated and adrift. The domestic pattern of his life turned upside down. Furthermore several close friends also died in the early part of the year and the impact that these affecting events had on him was considerable.

Grant’s earlier still lifes were typically incidental, the objects which comprise them were not commonly assembled as such, and he painted things as he saw them around the house. The present work certainly has a more studied, composed feel. However such is the persistent skill that runs through Grant’s work that the anecdotal lyricism of his post-impressionistic work still manifests itself so prominently here.

Given Grant’s involvement with the Omega Workshops it is perhaps unsurprising that he should have devoted some his energies to depictions of decorative ornaments in this beautiful, understated painting. The present work has largely cast aside the calligraphic style which characterised his ornate domestic work from the 1910s and 20s, but it does retain the same reverence for the everyday. Similarly it possesses the same feel and understanding for tonal balance; the delicate interplay of the pinks, browns and blues a remarkable evocation of Grant’s sense of composition.