25th Apr, 2023 10:00
Modern and Contemporary Art
167
▲ Carel Weight CH RA (1908-1997)
Carel Weight CH RA (1908-1997)
'Belisha Beacons at Shepherd's Bush, November 1934'
inscribed on artist's label verso, oil on canvas board
28 x 35cm
Born in Paddington in 1908, Carel Weight’s childhood playgrounds were the broken-down streets, alleys and parks of south-west London; the settings for many of his later paintings. Never one to try to beautify an environment, he often chose to depict the sleazier side of life. He was an only child, and a lonely child, which meant he disappeared into his imagination, a habit that continued and transferred into his artworks.
Following his education at the Hammersmith School of Art and Goldsmiths College of Art, he took up teaching and painting, with a studio in Shepherd’s Bush. We see from the label on the back of the present lot that he was living at 5 Shepherd’s Bush Green in 1934, presumably looking out of the studio window at the goings-on below. It is a privilege to see a snapshot of his life in the 1930s as many of his early works were destroyed during the Blitz in 1941. He lost all his materials and in the region of seventy paintings and was forced to start again.
'Belisha Beacons at Shepherd's Bush' is a more straightforward city scene than some of his more unusual compositions, but his trademark strangeness remains, as the faceless crowds bustle along the pavement. Painted when he was only 26 years old, it is more subtle in tone than the vibrancy one may expect from his later works, but as a student Weight was taught that you worked the composition in black and white, and colour was simply an adornment. By the end of his career he had taken influence from Matisse and used colour as a more integral part of the painting.
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Sold for £4,000
Condition Report
Framed: 39.5 x 47.7cm, minor surface discolouration and dirt. See photos for further details.
Seen under uv light. A few tiny spots of retouching show. The upper edge and top of central l trees shows up lightly under uv but to the eye this looks like it may have been the pigment the artist used, Paint a little thin in places. No major condition issues.
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Auction: Modern and Contemporary Art, 25th Apr, 2023
Viewing
HIGHLIGHTS
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VIEWING
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Fri 21 April, 10am - 5pm
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Mon 24 April, 10am - 5pm
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