Lot 9: Dora Carrington (1893-1932)

Flowers in a two-handled vase
oil on canvas
20 x 16 in. (50.8 x 40.7 cm.)
Painted circa 1925.

New York, Katonah Gallery, Bloomsbury Artists at Charleston: Paintings from the Reader's Digest Collection, August - October 1987, no. 22.
Johannesburg, Art Gallery, Bloomsbury Artists at Charleston: Paintings from the Reader's Digest Corporate Collection, November 1992 - February 1993, no. 34.

J. Hill, The Art of Dora Carrington, London, 1984, p. 112, illustrated.

The artist's studio.
Mr and Mrs Ralph Partridge.
with Anthony d'Offay, London, where purchased by the present owner in January 1983.

This painting hung in the spare bedroom at Ham Spray, Marlborough, until 1961. In 1924 Carrington and the writer Lytton Strachey moved to Ham Spray House in Wiltshire. There she did not have to stray far for her inspiration, and flowers became a favourite subject. Gretchen Gerzina wrote, 'She (Carrington) frequently gave and received flowers, and friends scoured florist shops and country gardens for pleasing specimens for her. If she received a gift of a flower, all other work ceased while she painted it during its brief life' (G. Gerzina, Carrington, A Life of Dora Carrington 1893-1932, London, 1989, p. 221.)

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