Portrait of a woman

ⓒ Work in copyright. All rights reserved.

Maker

(artist)
1885-1963

Title

Portrait of a woman

Date of Production

(circa) 1913

Medium

graphite and watercolour on wove paper, with pinholes at each corner and the lower centre edge

Dimensions

Height: 35.2 cm
Width: 27.1 cm

Object Number

D.2016.XX.9

Mode of Acquisition

Brigid Peppin, gift, 2016

Credit

Courtauld Gallery, London (Samuel Courtauld Trust)

Location

Not currently on display

Keywords

Label Text

Saunders’s portrait of her friend Blanche Caudwell (1880-1950) captures the sitter’s distinctive features, yet strips away detail in favour of stark stylisation. Although likely a study, the handling is confident. Broad strokes of wash model the face; those areas left bare appear flooded with light.

Saunders’s work had been described as ‘Cubist’ in 1913. The way she breaks Blanche’s face into discrete planes, testing the boundaries between two- and three-dimensionality, reveals the artist’s familiarity with Cubism, a key influence on Vorticism.

Inscriptions

Watermark: Watermark: none.

Inscription: none.

Collector's mark: none.

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

Praxitella: Wyndham Lewis, Helen Saunders and Iris Barry, Leeds Art Gallery, Leeds, 22/06/2023-05/11/2023
Drawings Gallery Display - Helen Saunders, Courtauld Gallery, London, 14/10/2022-29/01/2023

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