Lot 169: Peter Snow (1927-2008) Henrietta Street

Henrietta Street
signed and dated 'Snow 59' (lower right)
oil on board
91.5 x 122cm (36 x 48 1/16in).

PROVENANCE:
The Artist's Estate

The influence of Peter Snow (1927-2008) on 20th Century British Art and culture should not be underestimated although little of his work has come on to the open market. In 1955 he made his name as the theatre designer for Sir Peter Hall's production of 'Waiting for Godot' by Samuel Beckett at the Criterion Theatre. A year later he held his first one-man exhibition at the Beaux Arts gallery in London which was then run by Helen Lessore.

Having studied Theatre Design under Robert Medley at the Slade from 1948-1953, he took over as head of the department from 1967-1992 where Yolande Sonnabend and Derek Jarman ranked among his pupils. In 1959 Snow exhibited at Black Hall, St Giles, Oxford alongside fellow Beaux Arts exhibitor, John Bratby, the famed 'Kitchen Sink' Artist. The closeness between the two artists at this time can be seen in the present lot that was painted in the same year of the exhibition. Henrietta Street was the location of Snow's studios in Covent Garden. The infiltration of a still life within a stark, uncompromising interior is similar to Bratby's work of this period. Snow's palette is very limited in this work, intensifying the shabby feeling of his studio and the grey and grubby world of London on the streets outside. The only living element in the painting is the vase of tulips which offers a joyful splash of colour at the centre of the composition, complemented by red in the studies pinned to the wall behind. There is an extremely strong sense of design to the composition, although nothing is quite symmetrical and there are no straight lines. The intense painterlyness of the present work is clearly in-keeping with the work of his celebrated contemporaries. In the 1961 exhibition at Beaux Arts, Snow exhibited alongside Craigie Aitchison, Michael Andrews, Frank Auerbach, Leon Kossoff, and Euan Uglow among others. Although principally known as a theatre designer, the paintings in this lot and the following clearly demonstrate him holding his own among the leading lights of the 20th Century British Art scene.