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Lot 162 PROPERTY FROM THE COLLECTION OF LORD AND LADY COTTESLOE
A lifelong supporter of the arts, The Hon. John Fremantle (4th Lord Cottesloe) collected works of the 20th century by artists including Walter Sickert, William Orpen, Augustus John, Henry Moore and John Piper. The latter two were lifelong personal friends. He also forged close friendships with several leading lights of the stage, including Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh. In 1953 he became a trustee of Tate and the following year was appointed chairman of the Advisory Council and Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art. In that same year his father died, meaning he inherited the title, Lord Cottesloe. From 1960-65 he was chairman of the Arts Council, during which time he conceived, with Olivier, his great passion project: to build a National Theatre on London’s South Bank. As chairman of the National Theatre board, he steered the development for fourteen years and finally, in 1976, it was opened by Queen Elizabeth II. One of its three theatres was named in his honour.
A lifelong supporter of the arts, The Hon. John Fremantle (4th Lord Cottesloe) collected works of the 20th century by artists including Walter Sickert, William Orpen, Augustus John, Henry Moore and John Piper. The latter two were lifelong personal friends. He also forged close friendships with several leading lights of the stage, including Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh. In 1953 he became a trustee of Tate and the following year was appointed chairman of the Advisory Council and Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art. In that same year his father died, meaning he inherited the title, Lord Cottesloe. From 1960-65 he was chairman of the Arts Council, during which time he conceived, with Olivier, his great passion project: to build a National Theatre on London’s South Bank. As chairman of the National Theatre board, he steered the development for fourteen years and finally, in 1976, it was opened by Queen Elizabeth II. One of its three theatres was named in his honour.
AUGUSTUS JOHN, O.M., R.A. (1878-1961)
Dorelia
Closed22 March 2023
Price Realised
GBP 50,400
More Information
Specialist note
Rendered in sumptuous red chalk, the present work is an intimate and passionate portrait of Augustus John’s great love, Dorothy ‘Dorelia’ McNeill, whom John had met in 1903. Later that year she moved in with the artist, his wife Ida and family, becoming his muse. To him Dorelia was the embodiment of John’s complex ideal of womanhood: as Michael Holroyd commented: 'She was, of course, hypnotically beautiful - almost embarrassingly so, Will Rothenstein found: 'one could not take one's eyes off her'. ... In his portraiture, Augustus was like a stage director, assigning his subjects all sorts of dramatic roles. Dorelia, it seems, acquiesced in them, fitting each of them to perfection - mother, mistress, little girl, phantasm, goddess, seductress, wife. She became all things to him; she was everywoman' (Augustus John The Years of Innocence, London, 1974, pp. 148-149).
John's passion and obsession for Dorelia is sensitively revealed in the present work. An enigmatic, 'Mona Lisa' smile is on her lips and her hypnotic, gaze draws the viewer in, simultaneously distant yet intense. John portrays her as he saw her, a woman of uncompromising beauty and serenity. The frenzied combination of bold and flickering lines in dark red chalk is typical of John's portrait sketches of this period where he is consumed with capturing the moment and injecting vitality. Dorelia demonstrates John's virtuosity as a draftsman, developing a method of linear drawing in colour whose success depended on his ability to make the drawing exciting, full of movement, energy and, in the case of Dorelia, passion.
We are very grateful to Rebecca John for her assistance in cataloguing this lot.
John's passion and obsession for Dorelia is sensitively revealed in the present work. An enigmatic, 'Mona Lisa' smile is on her lips and her hypnotic, gaze draws the viewer in, simultaneously distant yet intense. John portrays her as he saw her, a woman of uncompromising beauty and serenity. The frenzied combination of bold and flickering lines in dark red chalk is typical of John's portrait sketches of this period where he is consumed with capturing the moment and injecting vitality. Dorelia demonstrates John's virtuosity as a draftsman, developing a method of linear drawing in colour whose success depended on his ability to make the drawing exciting, full of movement, energy and, in the case of Dorelia, passion.
We are very grateful to Rebecca John for her assistance in cataloguing this lot.