Lot 103: Portrait of a lady 46.3 x 35.6 cm. (18 1/8 x 14 in.)

Portrait of a lady oil on canvas 46.3 x 35.6 cm. (18 1/8 x 14 in.) Painted circa 1916-17

46.3 x 35.6 cm

The Fine Art Society, London, The Camden Town Group, Centenary Exhibition, 2011, cat.no.41 (col.ill and detail, as by Sylvia Gilman)

Sylvia Gilman (née Meyer, wife of the artist), thence by descent to Barbara Gilman, Thence by direct descent to the present owner

This portrait was exhibited and published in 2011 as by Sylvia Gilman, wife of Harold Gilman.Harold died of influenza in 1919 and two years later his widow married his brother Leofric.She outlived Harold by over 50 years. The painting came by direct descent from the family of Sylvia and Leofric Gilman. It seems that the portrait was not discussed in the family prior to its exhibition in 2011 but, because 'S Gilman' was inscribed on the stretcher, it was assumed Sylvia had painted it. Sylvia Gilman (née Meyer, a surname changed by her family to Hardy c.1914) was a pupil at the Westminster School of Art where Gilman taught from 1912-15. We do not know when she enrolled in his class but she was probably there in 1915 when Harold sought a divorce from his first wife, Grace Canedy, who had gone with their children to her native America in 1909, never to return again to England. The quality of the portrait fails to support an attribution to Sylvia who was not known to be a particularly gifted pupil. Moreover she gave up painting altogether at the end of 1917, before she married Harold - and took his name - in April 1918. The later inscription on the stretcher probably means no more than that she owned the portrait. On the other hand, as regards style, handling, palette and presentation, the portrait is absolutely convincing as a work by Harold Gilman of around 1916-17. The crisp differentiation of each element in the composition, its taut design, the modelling of the face in angular planes of bright colours (a hot red with lilac shadows and creamy umber highlights) and the tender characterisation are typical of Gilman's portraits of women at this date. The abiding mystery of the portrait is who it represents. While we do not know who the sitter was, it is probable that she is linked to another mysterious painting of 1916-17 by Gilman, Tea in a Bedsitter. This subject, known in two versions, represents Gilman's living quarters at 47 Maple Street, Fitzrovia, London. A round tea table set for four people occupies the foreground. The larger version (Huddersfield Art Gallery) shows Sylvia Hardy on the right, an unidentified young woman in the centre and an empty chair on the left. In the smaller version (Sotheby's, 4 December 2002, lot 20, col.ill) the empty chair is occupied, almost certainly by the woman represented in the present portrait. The narrative behind both versions of Tea in a Bedsitter has yet to be disentangled. A mood of dejection pervades the whole; the women sit in isolation, each wrapped in her own thoughts, not communicating with each other; there is no food on the plates; the fourth place at table is unoccupied.Is it set for the artist? Or for someone (perhaps Gilman's elder brother) lost in the war? Why are there knives on the plates in the three-figure version but not in the two-figure? Are the young women rivals or friends; are they mourning together or separately? In what order did Gilman paint the two versions? Was the larger Huddersfield painting a declaration that the third young woman, representedin the present portrait, had been exiled and that Sylvia had won? We are grateful to Dr. Wendy Barron for compiling this catalogue entry.