About this lot

Description

§ John Armstrong, ARA (British, 1893-1973) Rain Dance signed 'John Armstrong' (lower right); dated 1952 oil on canvas laid on board 56 x 74cm (22 x 29in)
Provenance: Sotheby's, London, Sale, 20 July 1988, Lot 218; Brandler Galleries, Brentwood, Essex; Private Collection, UK Literature: A. Lambirth, A. Armstrong and J. Gibbs, John Armstrong: The Paintings, Catalogue Raisonne (London, 2009), no. 448 Other Notes: Born in Hastings, the son of a clergyman, John Armstrong attended St Paul's School in London before pursuing a law degree at St John's College, Oxford. However, he changed his mind and decided to study art instead at St John's Wood Art School in 1913-14. During the First World War, Armstrong served in the Royal Field Artillery in Salonika. After the war he embarked on a career as a theatre designer in London and went on to become a distinguished painter and muralist. It was particularly thanks to his friendship with the actors Elsa Lanchester and Charles Laughton that he succeeded in attracting numerous private collectors. Even though he is best known for his whimsical surrealist paintings, he was far from a conventional Surrealist. His first solo exhibition was at the Leicester Galleries in 1928, at which he showed paintings of mannequin-like figures reminiscent of the model theatre, as the critic Anthony Bertram remarked. In 1933, Armstrong joined the Unit One group formed by Paul Nash and exhibited a series of highly textured semi-abstract works in tempera - a medium which he preferred to oil. It was in the late 1930s that his work became much steeped in Surrealism and French Neo-Romanticism. At the same time, he was an equally prolific designer, notably producing posters for Shell and the Royal Mail, as well as designing costumes for film and theatre productions. During the Second World War, he worked as an official war artist, being commissioned by the War Artists' Advisory Committee to record the consequences of war. In the late 1940s, Armstrong gradually distanced himself from Surrealism and espoused the use of symbols in his work.
Dirty, would benefit from a clean. Little scuffing just below the pink umbrella.

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