Roger Fry
The Walled Garden, Charleston, 1919-20
Oil on canvas
18 3/8 x 21 1/2 in. (46.6 x 54.5 cm)
Philip Mould & Company
To view all current artworks for sale visit philipmould.com ‘If Paradise was a garden then the garden at Charleston may well be its Platonic shadow.’ - Virginia Nicholson (Granddaughter of...
To view all current artworks for sale visit philipmould.com
‘If Paradise was a garden then the garden at Charleston may well be its Platonic shadow.’
- Virginia Nicholson (Granddaughter of Vanessa Bell)[1]
Critic, artist and tastemaker, Roger Fry was instrumental in the success of Charleston Farmhouse as a home and studio to artists Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant. Fry helped design the studio at Charleston and redesigned the walled garden, depicted here, with a rectangular lawn, gravel paths around a pool and flowerbeds filled with blooms.
'At Charleston, his imprint is everywhere … Charleston wouldn't be Charleston without Roger Fry.’[2]
Ten years before this painting was completed, Fry had whipped up a furore in 1910 when he staged Manet and the Post-Impressionists at the Grafton Galleries. It included vividly coloured modern works by artists such as Van Gogh, Gauguin and Cézanne and attracted over 25,000 visitors over two months. The exhibition challenged established artistic traditions of form and beauty and at the same time enthused a younger generation of artists, including Bell and Grant, by offering them a new and exciting route of artistic expression to explore.
Fry’s practical mind and hands-on approach helped turn the tired farmhouse into a home and renovation of the garden was crucial to this transformation. Fry began his designs during the First World War and set about actualising them in 1918. Arguably, the timing of this venture instilled a poignancy to the project. According to the National Trust, ‘Food was in short supply during the First World War and by 1917 Britain was running out of produce. Growing vegetables was actively encouraged; even the flowerbeds at Buckingham Palace were given over to food production.’[3] The freedom and luxury to grow vibrant beds of colourful flowers after a period of harsh limitation must have been paradisiacal.
Fry heeds this newfound freedom through his high vantage point which captures the garden in the foreground and rolling landscape beyond. Merging the domestic garden with the landscape through his post-impressionistic brushstrokes, Fry generates a sense of continuity between the individual and collective; a mindset which was particularly prevalent throughout the war.
The wartime mindset of repairing and reusing pervaded the Bloomsbury artistic psyche. Fry, Grant and Bell seemed to have painted almost anything they could put their brush too. On the reverse of this landscape is a painting cut from a larger c. 1911 work, likely by Bell. It is probable that Bell provided this as a suitable surface for Fry to complete the present work during one of his many trips Charleston.[4]
[1] Nicholson, V. (1997) Charleston: A Bloomsbury House and Garden. London: Frances Lincoln, p. 163.
[2] Nicholson, V. (1997) Charleston: A Bloomsbury House and Garden. London: Frances Lincoln, p. 18.
[3] (2017) A Plantsman's Response to World War I. [online]. Available at: https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/dyffryn-gardens/features/a-plantsmans-response-to-world-war-i (Accessed: 01/02/2022)
[4] We are grateful to Richard Shone for providing this information.
‘If Paradise was a garden then the garden at Charleston may well be its Platonic shadow.’
- Virginia Nicholson (Granddaughter of Vanessa Bell)[1]
Critic, artist and tastemaker, Roger Fry was instrumental in the success of Charleston Farmhouse as a home and studio to artists Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant. Fry helped design the studio at Charleston and redesigned the walled garden, depicted here, with a rectangular lawn, gravel paths around a pool and flowerbeds filled with blooms.
'At Charleston, his imprint is everywhere … Charleston wouldn't be Charleston without Roger Fry.’[2]
Ten years before this painting was completed, Fry had whipped up a furore in 1910 when he staged Manet and the Post-Impressionists at the Grafton Galleries. It included vividly coloured modern works by artists such as Van Gogh, Gauguin and Cézanne and attracted over 25,000 visitors over two months. The exhibition challenged established artistic traditions of form and beauty and at the same time enthused a younger generation of artists, including Bell and Grant, by offering them a new and exciting route of artistic expression to explore.
Fry’s practical mind and hands-on approach helped turn the tired farmhouse into a home and renovation of the garden was crucial to this transformation. Fry began his designs during the First World War and set about actualising them in 1918. Arguably, the timing of this venture instilled a poignancy to the project. According to the National Trust, ‘Food was in short supply during the First World War and by 1917 Britain was running out of produce. Growing vegetables was actively encouraged; even the flowerbeds at Buckingham Palace were given over to food production.’[3] The freedom and luxury to grow vibrant beds of colourful flowers after a period of harsh limitation must have been paradisiacal.
Fry heeds this newfound freedom through his high vantage point which captures the garden in the foreground and rolling landscape beyond. Merging the domestic garden with the landscape through his post-impressionistic brushstrokes, Fry generates a sense of continuity between the individual and collective; a mindset which was particularly prevalent throughout the war.
The wartime mindset of repairing and reusing pervaded the Bloomsbury artistic psyche. Fry, Grant and Bell seemed to have painted almost anything they could put their brush too. On the reverse of this landscape is a painting cut from a larger c. 1911 work, likely by Bell. It is probable that Bell provided this as a suitable surface for Fry to complete the present work during one of his many trips Charleston.[4]
[1] Nicholson, V. (1997) Charleston: A Bloomsbury House and Garden. London: Frances Lincoln, p. 163.
[2] Nicholson, V. (1997) Charleston: A Bloomsbury House and Garden. London: Frances Lincoln, p. 18.
[3] (2017) A Plantsman's Response to World War I. [online]. Available at: https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/dyffryn-gardens/features/a-plantsmans-response-to-world-war-i (Accessed: 01/02/2022)
[4] We are grateful to Richard Shone for providing this information.
Provenance
The artist,
thence by family descent;
Private Collection, Canada;
Bonham’s, London, 30 June 2021, lot 6
Philip Mould & Company