Wartime Still Life, 1945: Humble Things, Bread and Cheese, French Masterpiece by a Mysterious Artist Oil on Canvas

1920 - 1940

Sold by Skippings Fine Arts

Description

Here is a personal favourite: a picture that I kept on various walls in my Norwich, London and Paris homes for years, unwilling to part with it. Well, here it is: a sober and poignant still life with half a loaf of bread, a flask and a camembert cheese, painted in the war year of 1945. The painting is dated, but even if it were not, you might guess - the chill and the short supply of comfort is palpable. And yet, there is such beauty: harmony in the restrained palette, a simple elegance, a symphony of luminous greys. It is the sort of work that a Bloomsbury group artist would have been proud to achieve.

It is in fact a painting by Désiré Dot-Lewis, an artist about who we know little: his name is very likely a pseudonym. Born in the Allier region in the Centre of France, we know that he exhibited at the Parisian Galerie d'Orsel in 1943.

Signed and dated at the lower left, the oil on canvas measures 36 x 48 cm. Presented in a quality frame, the overall size is 53 x 61 cm.

Physical Dimensions

Height

38cm (14.96")

Width

46cm (18.11")

Depth

1cm (0.39")

Declaration

Skippings Fine Arts has dated this piece to the 1940s.

Reference Numbers

Sellingantiques Reference

SA759002

Dealers Notes

Nous parlons français, und wir sprechen auch Deutsch! Paintings may be viewed in Norwich and in Paris, as well as in London and Cambridge by appointment. Please contact us if you would like further details and images of an artwork.

Description

Here is a personal favourite: a picture that I kept on various walls in my Norwich, London and Paris homes for years, unwilling to part with it.

“

Well, here it is: a sober and poignant still life with half a loaf of bread, a flask and a camembert cheese, painted in the war year of 1945.

Skippings Fine Arts

The painting is dated, but even if it were not, you might guess - the chill and the short supply of comfort is palpable. And yet, there is such beauty: harmony in the restrained palette, a simple elegance, a symphony of luminous greys. It is the sort of work that a Bloomsbury group artist would have been proud to achieve.

fig 1. Wartime still life, 1945: humble things, bread and cheese, French masterpiece by a mysterious artist oil on canvas — fig 1. Wartime Still Life, 1945: Humble Things, Bread and Cheese, French Masterpiece by a Mysterious Artist Oil on Canvas

It is in fact a painting by Désiré Dot-Lewis, an artist about who we know little: his name is very likely a pseudonym. Born in the Allier region in the Centre of France, we know that he exhibited at the Parisian Galerie d'Orsel in 1943.

Signed and dated at the lower left, the oil on canvas measures 36 x 48 cm. Presented in a quality frame, the overall size is 53 x 61 cm.