John Armstrong, A.R.A. (1893-1973)

In 1943 Armstrong painted three compositions around the central form of a fish, a subject which he had not previously explored. At this time the artist's brushwork technique was undergoing radical change, and two of these paintings (including the present work) show very finely hatched strokes, whereas the third transforms with the very distinctive broader stroke style which the artist adopted and refined through the mid 1940s. Armstrong's themes are generally symbolic or decorative in nature, but this work with its unusual and out-of-scale juxtaposition is a good example of why he is frequently identified as a surrealist.

We are grateful to Jonathan Gibbs for his assistance in cataloguing this lot.