1921 (ca.), Wyndham Lewis, Praxitella -- Courtauld Gallery (London)
From the museum label: Praxitella is a portrait of Iris Barry, who was in a relationship with Wyndham Lewis at the time. Her striking dress was a gift from Lewis. He depicted her as a monumental figure with a metallic sheen and sharp-edged, sculpted features. The work is a major statement of Lewis's new approach to painting after the First World War, having moved on from his earlier abstract style when he led the Vorticist group. The title refers to the ancient Greek sculptor Praxiteles and the painting is Lewis's critical response to contemporary art of the 1920s, which he saw as a conservative and derivative type of classicism.
Look carefully at the painting's surface. Through the cracks in the paint, you can see hints of the red pigment from Saunders's work underneath, which is more fully revealed in the black-and-white X-ray reproduced nearby.
1921 (ca.), Wyndham Lewis, Praxitella -- Courtauld Gallery (London)
From the museum label: Praxitella is a portrait of Iris Barry, who was in a relationship with Wyndham Lewis at the time. Her striking dress was a gift from Lewis. He depicted her as a monumental figure with a metallic sheen and sharp-edged, sculpted features. The work is a major statement of Lewis's new approach to painting after the First World War, having moved on from his earlier abstract style when he led the Vorticist group. The title refers to the ancient Greek sculptor Praxiteles and the painting is Lewis's critical response to contemporary art of the 1920s, which he saw as a conservative and derivative type of classicism.
Look carefully at the painting's surface. Through the cracks in the paint, you can see hints of the red pigment from Saunders's work underneath, which is more fully revealed in the black-and-white X-ray reproduced nearby.