Mary Fedden
Windmills, Gozo, Malta
Signed and dated '1963' (lower left)
Oil on board
36 x 48 ins
£35,000
Provenance:
Purchased directly from the artist in the early 1960s
Private Collection, France
Exhibited:
London, Mansard Gallery, Mary Fedden Exhibition, 1965, no.2
In this impressive painting from 1963, we can clearly see the influence of Julian Trevelyan. Mary and Julian had begun their relationship in 1949 and would paint alongside each other, often giving advice and certainly influencing each other's style. This rather surreal windmill landscape recalls Julian's industrial landscapes of The Potteries in which the tall chimneys dominate the landscape in the same way that the windmills fill the composition in the present painting. The blue cart in the foreground also relates to Julian's many paintings of ox's carts.
It is likely that the landscape depicted in this painting is Gozo in Malta, an island that Mary and Julian fell in love with when they first visited in 1958. They returned to Malta in 1963 and again in 1979. Mary's sketchbooks from the period show numerous pen and ink studies of the dramatic Gozo landscape, characterised by low flat-topped hills with terraced fields along the slopes.
The painting was bought by architect friends of Mary's and hung in their house in the South of France where Mary and Julian spent a happy Summer.
Please note the price of this work is subject to Droit de Suite.
Purchased directly from the artist in the early 1960s
Private Collection, France
Exhibited:
London, Mansard Gallery, Mary Fedden Exhibition, 1965, no.2
In this impressive painting from 1963, we can clearly see the influence of Julian Trevelyan. Mary and Julian had begun their relationship in 1949 and would paint alongside each other, often giving advice and certainly influencing each other's style. This rather surreal windmill landscape recalls Julian's industrial landscapes of The Potteries in which the tall chimneys dominate the landscape in the same way that the windmills fill the composition in the present painting. The blue cart in the foreground also relates to Julian's many paintings of ox's carts.
It is likely that the landscape depicted in this painting is Gozo in Malta, an island that Mary and Julian fell in love with when they first visited in 1958. They returned to Malta in 1963 and again in 1979. Mary's sketchbooks from the period show numerous pen and ink studies of the dramatic Gozo landscape, characterised by low flat-topped hills with terraced fields along the slopes.
The painting was bought by architect friends of Mary's and hung in their house in the South of France where Mary and Julian spent a happy Summer.
Please note the price of this work is subject to Droit de Suite.
