Duncan Grant
Portrait of Paul Roche, 1952
Oil on board
17 3/4 x 13 5/8 in. (45 x 34.5 cm)
Signed and dated centre left D.Grant/52
Inscribed on reverse 'Don-done in electric light, Taviton Street'
Inscribed on reverse 'Don-done in electric light, Taviton Street'
Philip Mould & Co.
To view all current artworks for sale visit philipmould.com This poignant portrait was painted by Duncan Grant in 1952. Roche (or 'Don' as he was known) later recalled the sitting...
To view all current artworks for sale visit philipmould.com
This poignant portrait was painted by Duncan Grant in 1952. Roche (or 'Don' as he was known) later recalled the sitting in a letter to John Constable, a collector and previous owner of this work:
'That portrait of me by electric light was painted at No.1 Taviton Street in Bloomsbury where I shared a flat with Marjorie Strachey (for eight years). Duncan used me to come up from Charleston every week and i would model for him from morning until after midnight...the light was bad for painting, although he accomplished a great many. We experimented with a large blue light bulb. Occasionally Edward Le Bas would join in, and once or twice Vanessa Bell.'
He later went on recall how he 'gave Duncan a hard time, complaining that electric light didn't flatter me and couldn't he do better!'
This poignant portrait was painted by Duncan Grant in 1952. Roche (or 'Don' as he was known) later recalled the sitting in a letter to John Constable, a collector and previous owner of this work:
'That portrait of me by electric light was painted at No.1 Taviton Street in Bloomsbury where I shared a flat with Marjorie Strachey (for eight years). Duncan used me to come up from Charleston every week and i would model for him from morning until after midnight...the light was bad for painting, although he accomplished a great many. We experimented with a large blue light bulb. Occasionally Edward Le Bas would join in, and once or twice Vanessa Bell.'
He later went on recall how he 'gave Duncan a hard time, complaining that electric light didn't flatter me and couldn't he do better!'
Provenance
The artistPaul Roche, by whom sold
Bonham's, London, 1983, lot 83
Bought from the above by John Constable