About this lot

Description

Marsh Landscape oil on canvas, unframed (Dimensions: 76 x 102cm )

(76 x 102cm )

Footnote: Provenance With Beaux Art Gallery, London Exhibited Sheffield, Graves Art Gallery, Juda Collection , May -June 1967, cat.no.159 Together with his partner, the illustrator Richard “Dickie” Chopping, and Francis Bacon, Denis Wirth-Miller is credited with bringing the spirit of bohemia to Wivenhoe, a small fishing town on the Essex coast. Although the trio were remembered for their outrageous and hedonistic behaviour, Wirth-Miller was noted as a serious worker and is remembered for his distinctive paintings of East Anglia and Dartmoor. In 1939, despite lacking any formal training, Denis Wirth-Miller left school to become a professional artist. His work was first exhibited from 1944 and in 1953, a landscape painting was purchased by the Queen for the Royal Collection. Wirth-Miller’s career was sadly curtailed when, in 1975, due to a degenerative eye condition, he was forced to stop painting. Although he could no longer actively paint, Wirth-Miller remained interested and supportive of the development of young artists in Wivenhoe.

Condition report: Oil on canvas which is unlined and attached to a wooden, open-window stretcher. The canvas tension is sound. There is an old tear at the upper right quadrant. The texture in this area is slightly uneven and the surface is matte, but it is generally acceptable from a normal viewing distance. Apart from this area the paint layer is in a good condition overall.

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