Lot 77: George Spencer Watson, R.A., R.W.S., R.O.I. (1869-1934)

George Spencer Watson, R.A., R.W.S., R.O.I. (1869-1934)
Views of Studland
oil on panel, unframed
12 x 16 in. (30.5 x 40.6 cm.)
six in the lot (6)

SOLD BY ORDER OF THE EXECUTORS OF THE LATE MARY SPENCER WATSON George Spencer Watson and Dunshay Manor

In 1913 George Spencer Watson's wife, Hilda, gave birth to a baby girl and they spent the summer months in a rented cottage at Studland on the Isle of Purbeck. For the painter who had grown up in London as the son of a respected surgeon, who had trained at the Royal Academy Schools, and who was now an established portrait painter with a fashionable address in Holland Park, this escape to the country was a revelation. Watson had travelled extensively; had toured in the Middle East (see lot 95) and like Sargent, Lavery, Waterlow and others, had taken Alpine holidays after the opening of the Jungfrau railway in 1911 (see lot 12). And while Wallensee in Switzerland and Monserrat in the Algarve were destinations of choice, the coastal corner of Dorset was, in 1913, to become a refuge and a haven. Some of his most vivid and experimental works were painted in the sand dunes on Purbeck (see lot 78), and with their distant views of the sea and the 'Old Harry' cliffs, these provided the setting for a series of celebrated canvases that culminated with Four Loves I have found A woman, a child, a horse and a hound, 1922 (fig 1).



Fig 1 Four Loves I have found A woman, a child, a horse and a hound, 1922 (sold £151,250, Christie's, 16 December 2009)

Such was the charm of the area that the Watsons acquired a permanent residence there, at Dunshay Manor in 1923. The house and its environs immediately became a great source of inspiration - providing ample opportunities for riding expeditions, commemorated in works such as Us Riding, (unlocated) shown at the Academy in 1926, and in The Riding Party, Mary and her parents riding (lots 86 & 88).

It is clear from these that Watson aspired to the life of the country gentleman, his living supported by a successful portrait practice. The Twenties was the era of the country house weekend party, of temporary escape and country sports, depicted by the likes of Alfred Munnings and Frederic Whiting. However, where Munnings was a painter for hire, ranging through the Midlands, the home counties and south, Watson remained rooted for the most part, on the Purbeck downs. For the portrait painter, Dunshay was an important antedote - a way of purging the studio light from his eyes, surrounded by friendly and familiar models - Hilda, his daughter, Mary, his hound, Maggie, and his horses. Although it was retained, the London house was used less and less. He never tired of the clumps of trees and undulating terrain around the house, painting them in all seasons. His devotion was extraordinary and it was expressed in an almost hermetic attachment to a restricted number of motifs - the gardens, the gates, the land falling away from the house and the nearby stone quarry where the young Mary would watch the Purbeck Marblers at work.

Although Dunshay was to provide solace for distinguished visitors as various as Carl Jung and Paul Nash, Watson was not given to philosophising. However when Mary was old enough to attend Bournemouth School of Art, he went there in 1931 to speak to its students. His words were full of sound, practical advice. He encouraged his listeners to look at familiar objects as though they had never seen them before. Straining for originality will not produce the picture that is 'vivid, clear, easy to understand and beautiful', he declared.* The basis of the 'new vision' lay in drawing and painting 'only exactly like what you see', and without preconception. For those who, like Alice, would pass through the looking glass into an enchanted world, strict objectivity was the only key.

*See George Spencer Watson, RA, RSPP, ROI, 1869-1934, 1981 (exhibition catalogue, Dorset County Museum, Southampton Art Gallery, Victoria Art Gallery, Bath, with an introduction by Michael Compton).

KMC
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