Lot 32 , Harold Gilman, (1876-1919), The artist's mother

Harold Gilman ((1876-1919))
The artist's mother,
circa 1917,
signed lower right,
oil on canvas,
68.5cm x 51cm

Exhibited: Probably London Group, Mansard Gallery, London, 1917 (no.61);
Probably Harold Gilman Memorial Exhibition, Leicester Galleries, London, 1919 (no.19 or 25);
Paintings and Drawings by Harold Gilman 1876–1919, Lefevre Gallery, London, 1948 (no.33);
The Camden Town Group, Plymouth Art Gallery, 1974 (no.12);
Harold Gilman 1876–1919, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1982 (ex-cat)

Provenance: 'Modern British Art', Christie's, London, 19th June 1997, lot 123;
Private collection, Kent

Note: Harold Gilman painted his mother Emily (née Gulliver, 1850–1940) throughout his life, his many depictions of her – sewing, taking tea, sitting in her garden or, as here, dozing in a chair – testifying to their exceptionally close relationship and recognising her unwavering support for his career as an artist. This is one of his last portraits of her, made shortly after the death of her husband, Rev’d John Gilman, and her move from Snargate Rectory on Romney Marsh to a house outside London at Purley where she lived with her eldest son Lionel. A squared-up drawing for it is in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. Not unusually, Gilman made two versions of this image, of which this is the more resolved; the fact that it is signed indicates that it was exhibited in the artist’s lifetime, possibly under the title My Mother in the fifth exhibition of the London Group (of which Gilman was president) in spring 1917. Gilman’s late style is distinguished by sharply defined forms and flat blocks of colour, as well as a return to the intimate, domestic scenes characteristic of his earlier work – all evident in the present work and exemplified in a contemporaneous profile portrait of Emily Gilman sitting in the same wicker chair in Manchester Art Gallery.

Gorringe’s are extremely grateful to James Beechey for his invaluable assistance in cataloguing this lot.

£10,000-20,000

Sold for £80,000