Canal
Maker
(artist)
1885-1963
1885-1963
Title
Canal
Date of Production
(circa) 1913
Medium
graphite, pen and brown ink, brown wash, squared up in graphite, on wove paper, with several pinholes at the corners
Dimensions
Height: 43.4 cm
Width: 34 cm
Width: 34 cm
Accession Number
D.2016.XX.7
Mode of Acquisition
Brigid Peppin, gift, 2016
Credit
The Courtauld, London (Samuel Courtauld Trust)
Copyright
© Estate of Helen Saunders
Location
Not currently on display
Keywords
Label Text
Depicting a section of the Regent’s Canal in London, this ambitious drawing is an early example of Saunders’s boldly simplified approach. Compositional elements are treated as geometric solids; the spiky trees resemble enormous cacti, and the buildings dwarf the block-like figures on the towpath. Although an inscription on the back of the sheet suggests that the work was exhibited, and therefore considered finished, the squaring implies that it may have been preparatory for a larger composition.
Provenance
with the artist until her death in 1963; bequeathed to her sister, Ethel Saunders; bequeathed to her first cousin once removed, Helen Peppin, 1971; given to her daughter, Brigid Peppin, 1989; offered by her as a gift and part-purchase to the Samuel Courtauld Trust, 2016
Exhibition History
Drawings Gallery Display - Helen Saunders, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 14/10/2022-29/01/2023
Helen Saunders (1885-1963), Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, 09/01/1996-03/03/1996; Graves Art Gallery, Sheffield, 16/03/1996-20/04/1996
Helen Saunders (1885-1963), Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, 09/01/1996-03/03/1996; Graves Art Gallery, Sheffield, 16/03/1996-20/04/1996
Literature
Peppin, Brigid, and Cork, Richard, Helen Saunders (1885-1963), exh. cat., Ashmolean Museum, Oxford and Graves Art Gallery ,Sheffield, 1996
pp. 9, 43
Fig. p. p. 10
pp. 9, 43
Fig. p. p. 10
Inscriptions
Watermark: Watermark: none.
Inscription: Verso: lower right, graphite, signed by the artist?: "Drawn by / Helen Saunders / Chelsea = ".
Collector's mark: none.
Inscription: Verso: lower right, graphite, signed by the artist?: "Drawn by / Helen Saunders / Chelsea = ".
Collector's mark: none.
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