Lot 615: Dora Carrington (1893-1932) Flowering Cactus, circa 1931

Dora Carrington (1893-1932)
Flowering Cactus, circa 1931
oils on canvas 75cm x 45cm.

Provenance:
Alix Strachey (née Sargant-Florence) and James Strachey (the brother of Lytton Strachey);
Collection of Simonette Strachey, where bequeathed to the current owner.

Literature:
Jane Hill, The Art of Dora Carrington, The Herbert Press Ltd., London, 1995, p.112, illustrated.

'Carrington took a different approach again when she painted a red flowering cactus, perhaps one of the rare cactuses that Dorelia had given her in July 1931 for her hothouse. Such was her eagerness to paint it, she put the pot, still in its tissue paper, into a saucer of water and then placed it on the bare wooden floor against the corner of a blue wall; lightly painting it, by tone, almost twice the size she had been painting portraits.' (p.112, Hill)