Cedric Morris
An Italian landscape, 1922
Oil and Canvas
21 5/8 x 17 11/16 in (55 x 45 cm)
Signed: C. Morris 22' bottom right
Philip Mould & Company
To view all current artworks for sale visit philipmould.com From 1920 to 1926 Cedric Morris and his partner Arthur Lett-Haines travelled extensively around Europe mixing with continental avant-garde artists and...
To view all current artworks for sale visit philipmould.com
From 1920 to 1926 Cedric Morris and his partner Arthur Lett-Haines travelled extensively around Europe mixing with continental avant-garde artists and writers. This was a particularly impactful period in Morris’ life as his experiences throughout Europe helped to steer his early development. Painted in 1922, this work coincides with some of the crucial Modernist art movements of the twentieth century. In November 1922 work by both Morris and Lett-Haines was included in a group exhibition at the Casa d'Arte Bragaglia in Rome, run by a pioneer of Italian Futurist photography and cinema, Anton Guilio Bragaglia. Important modernist artists such as Balla, Boccioni and Kandinsky were regular exhibitors at the gallery and De Chirico, whom Morris greatly admired, had his first one-man exhibition there in 1919.
As painting became increasingly detached from visual reality, artists began to move further away from the academic practice of rigorous observation of their subject in order to produce an exact likeness. By 1922, modern painting was firmly established within a new form of visual representation leading back to the Impressionist painters of the late nineteenth century. Modernism now came to be concerned with expression of vision and abstraction of form over mimetic representation. While Morris cannot be thought of as a rigid proponent of European Modernism per se, he was an artist assured in his ability to assimilate broader characteristics of contemporary painting into his own work.
This can be seen in the current painting in the way in which Morris has flattened the visual plane and abstracted the perspective thereby removing traditional means of depicting landscape. An Italian Landscape expresses new concerns that are very much aligned with the earlier work of Kandinsky and Matisse in many respects. This work, most likely painted in Northern Italy, demonstrates Morris’ preoccupation with interpreting the inherent rhythm and textural harmony apparent in any observable landscape. The way in which the hills, plants and buildings fold over one another in an undulating interplay serve to reinforce this element of Morris’ landscape painting that he would continue to explore in varying ways throughout his artistic career. Morris also produced a drawing of the same title in 1922 that explores landscape through formal composition.
Cedric Morris was, in many respects, as avid a gardener as he was an artist. Preferring to be known as an ‘Artist Plantsman’ Morris’ flower paintings are, in essence, extensions of his lifelong affinity with plants. Naturally inquisitive and exploratory in nature, Morris obtained an extensive knowledge of propagation through his gardening activities subsequently becoming famous for breeding legions of exotic varieties of Irises (a flower not commonly planted in England at the time). His eclectic knowledge of plant species often manifests itself in his choice of subject matter. In this work Morris paints a landscape full of clearly identifiable trees and shrubs specific to the
Lombardy region of Northern Italy. He paints Italian Cyprus trees, Cork Oaks, Lombardy Poplar and coppiced Oliver trees. Morris was consistently motivated by a desire to paint the plants, flowers and trees he greatly admired. In many respects this work can be understood in these terms. Italian Landscape is an interpretation of landscape as seen through the eyes of an Artist Plantsman.
From 1920 to 1926 Cedric Morris and his partner Arthur Lett-Haines travelled extensively around Europe mixing with continental avant-garde artists and writers. This was a particularly impactful period in Morris’ life as his experiences throughout Europe helped to steer his early development. Painted in 1922, this work coincides with some of the crucial Modernist art movements of the twentieth century. In November 1922 work by both Morris and Lett-Haines was included in a group exhibition at the Casa d'Arte Bragaglia in Rome, run by a pioneer of Italian Futurist photography and cinema, Anton Guilio Bragaglia. Important modernist artists such as Balla, Boccioni and Kandinsky were regular exhibitors at the gallery and De Chirico, whom Morris greatly admired, had his first one-man exhibition there in 1919.
As painting became increasingly detached from visual reality, artists began to move further away from the academic practice of rigorous observation of their subject in order to produce an exact likeness. By 1922, modern painting was firmly established within a new form of visual representation leading back to the Impressionist painters of the late nineteenth century. Modernism now came to be concerned with expression of vision and abstraction of form over mimetic representation. While Morris cannot be thought of as a rigid proponent of European Modernism per se, he was an artist assured in his ability to assimilate broader characteristics of contemporary painting into his own work.
This can be seen in the current painting in the way in which Morris has flattened the visual plane and abstracted the perspective thereby removing traditional means of depicting landscape. An Italian Landscape expresses new concerns that are very much aligned with the earlier work of Kandinsky and Matisse in many respects. This work, most likely painted in Northern Italy, demonstrates Morris’ preoccupation with interpreting the inherent rhythm and textural harmony apparent in any observable landscape. The way in which the hills, plants and buildings fold over one another in an undulating interplay serve to reinforce this element of Morris’ landscape painting that he would continue to explore in varying ways throughout his artistic career. Morris also produced a drawing of the same title in 1922 that explores landscape through formal composition.
Cedric Morris was, in many respects, as avid a gardener as he was an artist. Preferring to be known as an ‘Artist Plantsman’ Morris’ flower paintings are, in essence, extensions of his lifelong affinity with plants. Naturally inquisitive and exploratory in nature, Morris obtained an extensive knowledge of propagation through his gardening activities subsequently becoming famous for breeding legions of exotic varieties of Irises (a flower not commonly planted in England at the time). His eclectic knowledge of plant species often manifests itself in his choice of subject matter. In this work Morris paints a landscape full of clearly identifiable trees and shrubs specific to the
Lombardy region of Northern Italy. He paints Italian Cyprus trees, Cork Oaks, Lombardy Poplar and coppiced Oliver trees. Morris was consistently motivated by a desire to paint the plants, flowers and trees he greatly admired. In many respects this work can be understood in these terms. Italian Landscape is an interpretation of landscape as seen through the eyes of an Artist Plantsman.
Provenance
Private collection, UK