Clare Winsten 1892-1989
Attack, c. 1910
pencil and watercolour on paper
54 x 75.5 cm
Framed: 75.6 x 95.7 x 1.7 cm
Framed: 75.6 x 95.7 x 1.7 cm
2008-5
© Clare Winsten estate
Photo: Bridgeman images
This unfinished but highly detailed watercolour most likely dates from Winsten's time at the Slade School of Fine Art and probably depicts a biblical scene (then common subjects for Slade...
This unfinished but highly detailed watercolour most likely dates from Winsten's time at the Slade School of Fine Art and probably depicts a biblical scene (then common subjects for Slade competition entries), possibly the Massacre of the Innocents, or the Roman myth of the Abduction of the Sabine Women, famously painted by Poussin. Her composition may also have been inspired by Paolo Uccello’s Battle of San Romano, c. 1438-40, in the National Gallery. Winsten's experimental approach shows the influence of Post-Impressionism, paring down her forms to their essentials, using dramatic gestures and areas of bold colour. Although the majority of figures are naked, one figure is partially clothed, suggesting she may have intended to add more colour. Winsten's Slade painting shared certain formal elements with fellow student David Bomberg and they worked along similar lines for a short time before falling out irreconsolably.
Provenance
purchased 2008Literature
Rachel Dickson and Sarah MacDougall, eds., Ben Uri: 100 Years in London - Art, Identity, Migration (London: Ben Uri Gallery, 2015), p. 65 (illus.);Apocalypse: Unveiling a lost masterpiece by Marc Chagall (London: Ben Uri Gallery, 2010);
Sarah MacDougall 'Whitechapel Girl: Clare Winsten and Isaac Rosenberg', in eds. Rachel Dickson & Sarah MacDougall, 'Whitechapel at War: Isaac Rosenberg & his Circle' (London: Ben Uri Gallery, 2008), pp. 99-115.
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