Isolation Depicted | Carel Weight's 'Despair'

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A common theme seen in painter Carel Weight’s work is the sense of danger, unease and disaster rooted from his unsettled childhood. With both parents working full time, he was sent to live with his godmother during the week, who shortly became his foster mother. Weight grew up between the working class streets of Fulham and the more affluent areas of Paddington, an experience which made him aware of the contrasts between deprivation and wealth. His loneliness fired and fed his imagination and his art.

^{▲ Carel Weight CH RA (1908-1997), 'The Sign Post' (£700-1,000)}

In the early 1930’s, Weight studied at Goldsmiths College, where he developed a preference for imaginative compositions. He later became a committee member of the Artists International Association, supporting fellow artists who fled Nazi Europe. In the Second World War, after serving in the British Army, he became an official War Artist travelling through Italy, Greece and Austria. His works from this time not only depict the human and architectural impact of the conflict, but also the signs of returning to normality in the post war years. In his return to London in 1947, Weight joined the Royal College of Art, becoming Professor of Painting a decade later. His work developed further, focusing on landscapes and portraits, infused with a mood of melancholia and set in the familiar locations Weight grew up in.

Drawn from personal experiences of the lonely upbringing with his foster mother and the high anxiety atmosphere of post-war Britain, many of Weight’s paintings convey the sense of the supernatural in the everyday, with many figures of ghosts and paranoia included. His pictures are often bizarre and haunted and always profound in the subtlety of their allusions. Weight believes in the ultimate loneliness and isolation of man, a concept which he weaves into the shaping of his vision. This fascination with the unseen gave his paintings a unique character within post-war British art.

^{▲ Carel Weight CH RA (1908-1997), 'Despair', 1969 (£3,000-5,000)}

Weight’s work frequently depicts a dramatic tension within his ordinary scenes. Despair, 1969 (Lot 132) is set in a dingy, high ceilinged, empty room, almost like a cell. The emotions within this painting are intense and heighten the sense of vulnerability. A singular chair rests along the back wall and the door is slightly ajar. Within this scene the viewer is looking at two figures: a sad lonely Weight with slumped shoulders and anxiously gripped hands, and a grim looking female, possibly his mother, with her mouth open, weeping as she walks out the room. The open door conveys a sense of transition and instability, a space to escape from intense emotion, reflecting Weight’s own childhood feelings of temporary abandonment during the weekends when his parents were absent.

^{▲ Carel Weight CH RA (1908-1997), 'Girl with raised arms' (£700-1,000)}

Through Despair and many of his other works, Weight transforms the domestic ordinary with the sense of unease and melancholy, reflecting his own personal history of isolation and also broader post-war anxiety. Carel Weight created a body of work that is unique and universal, marking him as one of the most distinctive voices in twentieth-century British painting. We are honoured to present his work in our upcoming Modern & Contemporary Art auction, taking place on Tuesday 7 October. A further selection from this single-owner collection will be featured in Paint. Print. Sculpt. on 2 December 2025.

Tuesday 7 October | 10am

pictures@sworder.co.uk | 01279 817778

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