Friday, April 17, 2009

Evelyn de Morgan - The Vision also titled 1914



Hammer Price with Buyer's Premium: 28,750 GBP (1998)

1914, also titled the vision
signed and dated l.r.: EDeM 1914 (date in oval)
oil on canvas
61 by 78.7 cm., 24 by 31 in.

This painting, originally titled '1914' but subsequently more usually known as The Vision, was painted by Evelyn De Morgan at the time of the outbreak of the First World War. Evelyn's husband, William De Morgan, wrote to a friend on 1 August 1914: 'I have just read that a Declaration of War has been made that may make our precious Civilization a chaos!' Mrs A.M.W. Stirling describes in William De Morgan and His Wife (1922) how Evelyn immediately embarked on a 'series of pictures in which subjects relating to wartime were treated in symbolic guise.' These works were exhibited in the artist's studio in Edith Grove to raise money for war charities. The present painting was included in such an exhibition in 1916 in aid of the Red Cross. A note in the catalogue of the exhibition explained that the
painting was intended to represent 'the threatening horror dawning on Peace and Plenty'.

Evelyn De Morgan - Oil Paintings, London, 1996

http://www.sothebys.com/app/live/lot/LotDetail.jsp?sale_number=LN8683&live_lot_id=57

No comments: