HEAD, 1931
Oil on canvas. 8 x 6in. (20.3 x 15.25m.)
Signed and dated upper right. Inscribed on the reverse.
Provenance
The Parkin Gallery, London.
1991, John Parry.
Bruton Knowles, Cheltenham, 19th May 2003, lot 209a as Head – Self Portrait.
Private collection.
Exhibited
London, Leva Gallery, 1974, No. 2.
London, Parkin Gallery, 1977, No. 5. Illustrated in b/w on the cover of the catalogue.
London, Parkin Gallery, 1985, no. 16, as Self-portrait - Nude.
Literature
Ratcliffe (2007) illus. b/w, pl. 76.
According to Bruton Knowles, the invoice from the Parkin Gallery gives the work as Head – Self Portrait. The invoice also states that the work was exhibited at Cheltenham in 1936 and at the 1976 Newlyn retrospective. If it was shown at the latter it was ex catalogue. If shown at the former it was also ex catalogue, unless it is to be identified as one of the three undated oils described in the catalogue simply as ‘Portrait’. Both the Parkin and the Leva catalogues simply describe the work as ‘Head’. The present owner confirms that the inscription on the reverse makes no reference to a self-portrait. References to this work occur in Colquhoun’s hand at several places in the Tate archive, and at no point is it referred to as anything other than Head (1931).
The physiognomy and the pose is the same as that of the model in Cartoon for a painting of a nude, 1931 (Sotheby’s studio sale, 24th April 1985, lot 539). Given the small size of Head, one may speculate that it was originally part of a full length nude painting that was later cut down.
The model is identifiable as the same model used for one of the Slade full length nude studies that still survive.
Reference
Ratcliffe, E. Ithell Colquhoun. Mandrake, Oxford. 2007.