Lot 71: Sir John Amherst Selby-Bigge (1892-1973)

Composition
signed and dated 'J.BIGGE/35' (lower right)
oil on panel
24 x 20 1/2 in. (61 x 52 cm.)

London, Mayor Gallery, Unit One: Spirit of the 30s, May - June 1984, no. 16.
Colchester, The Minories, A Salute to British Surrealism 1930-1950, April - May 1985, no. 14, as 'Composition': this exhibition travelled to London, Blond Fine Art, May - June 1985; and Hull, Ferens Art Gallery, July - August 1985. Milan, Palazzo Reale, I Surrealisti, May - September 1989, not numbered.
London, Design Museum, Modern Britain 1929-1939, January - June 1999, catalogue not traced.
Aldeburgh, Peter Pears Gallery, Festival Exhibition, June 2006, no. 12.

Exhibition catalogue, Unit One: Spirit of the 30s, London, Mayor Gallery, May - June 1984, p. 31, no. 16, illustrated.
Exhibition catalogue, A Salute to British Surrealism 1930-1950, 1985, p. 21, illustrated, as 'Composition'.
Exhibition catalogue, I Surrealisti, Milan, Palazzo Reale, May - September 1989, p. 442, illustrated.

The artist, and by descent to his daughter.

John Selby-Bigge was born in Oxford and entered the Slade School of Fine Art only briefly in 1914 due to his military service in the war. After the war, unable to return to his art studies for economical reasons, Bigge had to earn a living doing various menial jobs. Of this he stated, 'I cannot say that I regret not having had the opportunity of the usual art-school training. My ideas were left to develop freely without the influences of prejudices and mannerisms inherent in most schools' (see H.Read, Unit One The Modern Movement in English Architecture, Painting and Sculpture, London, p. 49). His inclusion in the Unit One group and the present work exemplify the fresh and avant-garde path he led as a modern artist.

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