Benton End; the reverse painted with a floral still life attributed to Lucy Harwood
oil on board, unframed
53 x 42.5cm
Provenance:
Sir Cedric Lockwood Morris
Collection of Lucy Harwood
and thence by family descent to the current owner
Recognised as one of the most proficient and technically sensitive painters of the natural world and known internationally by the title ‘Artist-Plantsman’, the legacy and influence of Cedric Morris, both during and after his lifetime, cannot be understated. Indeed, the present lot is significant not just in terms of its Benton End subject matter, but also it is demonstrative of the bond he shared with painter, Lucy Harwood.
Born in Swansea in 1889, to parents George, a prominent industrialist, and Wilhelmina, a highly accomplished needleworker, Morris enjoyed a comfortable childhood. Despite his innate gifts for painting and horticulture, Morris had initially aspired to join the military, though owing to health issues caused by a failed childhood operation, his application was denied. Adrift, Morris travelled widely during this period, working in a succession of jobs including as a farmhand in Ontario and as a dishwasher and bellboy in New York. Morris quickly learned, however, that this itinerant lifestyle did not appeal to him and he soon returned to England. After a brief sojourn at the Royal College of Music where he studied singing, Morris finally dedicated himself to painting and, in 1914, travelled to Montparnasse, Paris, to train at the Académie Delécluse. With his studies interrupted by the First World War, Morris found himself once again back in England and in 1918, he met Arthur Lett-Haines. In spite of Lett-Haines’ marriage to his wife, Aimée, the pair fell in love instantaneously, with Morris claiming that whilst before he had been ‘asleep’, now, ever the botanist, he had 'sprung to life'.
Shortly after meeting, Morris and Lett-Haines left their Newlyn home to travel to Paris. Whilst the pair, who had become beloved in artistic circles due to their peculiarly British eccentricities, enjoyed commercial and critical success in France, it was their 1937 move to Dedham, Essex, that would cement Morris’ reputation as one of the most innovative and compelling cultural figures of the twentieth century.
In 1937, Lett-Haines and Morris initiated their most ambitious project - the establishment of the East Anglian School of Art. Initially located in Dedham, Essex, the school was moved to a 16th century farmhouse, near Hadleigh in Suffolk called Benton End in 1938. It was here that the school was run for some 40 years and is said to have had a hand in fostering the talents of some of the most highly regarded painters of post war Britain, including Lucian Freud and Maggi Hambling. Benton End quickly became a sanctuary for “artists outside the system” and offered a space for students to both live and work. Morris and Lett-Haines promoted the exchange of artistic ideas and techniques and took a free-rein approach to teaching which was poles apart from the more formal and structured training offered by most academies at the time. Quickly, Benton End became an established community with artists, horticulturalists and writers heading to Suffolk, with famous alumni including the likes of Frances Hodgkins, David Carr, Richard Chopping and Valerie Thornton.
Lucy Harwood was one of the first artists to join the group in 1937, aged 43, and was one of the school’s longest serving students. She was regarded as a Benton End institution, according to Maggi Hambling, and was a fierce individualist. Like Morris, Harwood had also suffered from serious health due to a botched surgery. For Harwood, the implications of this medical failure were enormous and she was left partially paralysed on her right side, which, like Morris, had forced her to abandon her childhood ambition of working as a professional pianist. However, the notoriously tenacious Harwood did not allow this to crush her artistic aims, rather, she painstakingly taught herself to paint using only her left hand.
Regarded as a stalwart of the Benton End Group and sharing a number of personal and artistic similarities with her tutors, Harwood, unsurprisingly, formed a close friendship with Lett-Haines and Morris. Over a period of years at the school, Harwood acquired and was gifted a collection of paintings by the pair. Upon her death in 1972, however, the large majority of the paintings were returned to Morris and Lett-Haines. It is believed that the present lot was left with the Harwood family due to floral composition on the reverse, which has subsequently been attributed to Lucy Harwood.
Depicting the farm buildings at Benton End on one side, and a floral still life on the other, the present lot demonstrates both the confident handling of paint and the compositional mastery that has secured Morris’ abiding popularity. A similar example, dated 1947, can be found at Ipswich Art Gallery.
Sold for £44,000
Condition Report
Morris: In good overall condition, some typical surface dirt, most evident to the top of the sky area. The extremities of the board have suffered some minor losses. The top right-hand corner has been repaired and a loss filled with chalk gelatin putty and retouched with pigment bound in B72. There are some signs of old worm along the top edge and down the left and right-hand side, but this is subtle and unobtrusive (see additional images). The board is visible in places where the artist has applied paint thinly or not at all.
Harwood (attributed): Small vertical split in the board (approx 3cm) in the lower right corner, likewise, beside this there is a dribble of black pigment (approx 5cm) and two further spots. The left hand edge of the board has suffered multiple knocks and losses, similarly, there are small nibbles and one more significant loss along the top edge. There are three or four small worm holes visible along the left and right-hand sides. The paint layer appears to have been covered in white pigment at some point. This has been partially removed but could do with further cleaning to remove all vestiges.
Auction: The Art & Design Sale, 23rd Feb, 2023