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Painted in brisk, sweeping strokes, this virulent view of a French landscape is a revealing example of Jessica Dismorr’s early style. Dismorr was an experimental force within twentieth-century British art and this is one of her earliest known works, painted at the outset of her embarkation into avant-garde modernism.

Dismorr began her artistic training at the Slade, which was the only art school of the period that permitted women to study from life models. She furthered her training in France, where she studied in Étaples, at the art school run by Max Bohm, and later at the Academie de la Palette in Paris. At la Palette, Dismorr studied under the Scottish colourist John Duncan Fergusson whose fauvist sympathies influenced Dismorr significantly during her early career. Equally formative in the development of her style was Fergusson’s wife, Anne Estelle Rice, who had begun painting shortly before Dismorr enrolled at la Palette. During this period, all three artists engaged with fauvist theories of colour, as evidenced in the present landscape. In this work, the bold liner contours of the fields are mapped out in vibrant colours; warm colours govern the foreground whilst cooler tones dominate the background and denote depth. In simplifying her drawing style, Dismorr further explored the possibilities of colour and line, of which this landscape is a celebration.

This landscape was painted around the date that Dismorr joined the artistic movement Rhythm, which was largely pioneered by Fergusson and championed the bright energetic colours of the Fauve painters. This would be the first of many movements which Dismorr joined (most notably the Vorticist movement in 1914). The present work epitomises the aesthetic philosophy of the Rhythm group, particularly in its linear contouring of each colour block. As a colourist, Dismorr was largely unrivalled within the group, although her work does share similarities with other women members, particularly Marguerite Zorach (née Thompson). Dismorr and Zorach had shared a studio in 1910 and their resulting influence on each other is prominent in works such as this.

Equally important in Dismorr’s stylistic development was travel; the present work was completed in Provence during a long sojourn undertaken by Dismorr and Zorach. In c. 1910-11 both artists travelled together to Provence, where they embarked upon an artistic tour of the French countryside, cities, and coastlines, together visiting Avignon, Saint Rémy, Provence, Arles, Les Baux-de-Provence, and Marseille and Martigues on the coast. The trip was a resounding success and both artists produced respective bodies of works that remain hallmarks of their early careers.