Vanessa Bell
The House Near Piddinghoe, 1936
Oil on canvas
14 3/4 x 16 1/8 in. (37.5 x 41 cm)
Signed and dated 1936, bears title on label on the stretcher
Philip Mould & Co.
To view all current artworks for sale visit philipmould.com Vanessa Bell was one of the key members of the Bloomsbury Group, a collective of artistic individuals who lived and worked...
To
view all current artworks for sale visit philipmould.com
Vanessa Bell was one of the key members of the Bloomsbury Group, a collective of artistic individuals who lived and worked together, embracing an unrestricted and bohemian lifestyle.
In the midst of the First World War, Bell escaped the chaos of London and moved to the Sussex countryside. Along with fellow artist, Duncan Grant, and his lover David Garnett, Bell moved into Charleston Farmhouse, situated less than five miles from the River Ouse depicted in this landscape. This new setting and surrounding landscape continually inspired Bell throughout her entire career.
Painted twenty years after Bell initially moved to Sussex, this landscape depicts the Ouse River from the banks near Piddinghoe, a village 7 miles from Charleston Farmhouse. At this time, Bell and Grant kept an Austin 7; it is likely that Bell drove to this spot on a sunny day to depict this tidal stretch of the Ouse at low ebb. The exposed, muddy banks of the river present a structural juxtaposition to the meandering river below and wandering clouds above. The soft pastels which govern the colour palette in this landscape reveal remarkable similarities to the series of paintings she produced during a trip to Italy in 1935. Bell’s reduced palette of Italianate hues here exemplifies the subtle crystallisation of colour for which she became so well known.
Numerous artists have been inspired by the winding banks of the River Ouse as well as the bucolic villages which neighbour its path, including Mallord William Turner whose sketches on the banks of the river are in the collection of the Tate.
Retrospectively, the subject of this painting has taken on a poignant significance. Sadly, it is this river that Bell’s sister, Virginia Woolf, drowned herself in 1941, five years after this landscape was painted.
view all current artworks for sale visit philipmould.com
Vanessa Bell was one of the key members of the Bloomsbury Group, a collective of artistic individuals who lived and worked together, embracing an unrestricted and bohemian lifestyle.
In the midst of the First World War, Bell escaped the chaos of London and moved to the Sussex countryside. Along with fellow artist, Duncan Grant, and his lover David Garnett, Bell moved into Charleston Farmhouse, situated less than five miles from the River Ouse depicted in this landscape. This new setting and surrounding landscape continually inspired Bell throughout her entire career.
Painted twenty years after Bell initially moved to Sussex, this landscape depicts the Ouse River from the banks near Piddinghoe, a village 7 miles from Charleston Farmhouse. At this time, Bell and Grant kept an Austin 7; it is likely that Bell drove to this spot on a sunny day to depict this tidal stretch of the Ouse at low ebb. The exposed, muddy banks of the river present a structural juxtaposition to the meandering river below and wandering clouds above. The soft pastels which govern the colour palette in this landscape reveal remarkable similarities to the series of paintings she produced during a trip to Italy in 1935. Bell’s reduced palette of Italianate hues here exemplifies the subtle crystallisation of colour for which she became so well known.
Numerous artists have been inspired by the winding banks of the River Ouse as well as the bucolic villages which neighbour its path, including Mallord William Turner whose sketches on the banks of the river are in the collection of the Tate.
Retrospectively, the subject of this painting has taken on a poignant significance. Sadly, it is this river that Bell’s sister, Virginia Woolf, drowned herself in 1941, five years after this landscape was painted.
Provenance
London, Thomas Agnew and Sons Ltd (no.9625); London, The Adams Gallery, where purchased by the owner's motherExhibitions
London, Lefevre Gallery, Recent Paintings by Vanessa Bell, May 1937, cat. no. 16 ('The Ouse, near Piddinghoe');London, The Adams Gallery, Exhibition of Paintings by Vanessa Bell, 6 - 27 Oct. 1961, cat. no. 26 (listed as 'The Ouse, Piddinghoe').