After sale of the auction at 21st April 2012 - Page 1 of 1

Oil/canvas, 91,5 x 72 cm, lo. le. sign. a. dat. John Wells 1930, min. craquelure. - Prov.: North German noble collection. - The frontal posture of the Lady, her open gaze and the imperious gesture evoke the portraits that Goya painted of his secret lady-love, the duchess of Alba. The painting is a early mature highlight in the artist"s ouevre before he turned to abstraction. - English painter a. sculptor, studied medicin 1925-30, taking painting lessons contemporaneously at the St. Martin academy in London, as early as 1927 he exhibited at the Royal Society of British artists, while working as physician he kept in touch with the St. Ives artist"s colony in Cornwall where he settled in 1945 to work solely as an artist, influences by N. Gabo he became one of the main exponents of the local art scene, in 1946 he exhibited with W. Nicholson a. soon after he partook in the most important international exhibitions, since 1965 he shared a studio with the sculptor D. Mitchell, in 2007/08 the Tate St. Ives honoured him with a retrospective on the occasion of his 100th birthday. - Lit.: Vollmer. - Mus.: London (Tate Gallery).