JOHN HENRY BRADLEY STORRS (1885-1956)

John Storrs began to paint seriously in 1930 at the age of forty-five, building upon his established sculpture practice. Many of his earliest paintings resemble depictions of his own sculptures, often with anthropomorphic elements. Noel Frackman writes, “As the 1930s progressed, Storrs’ paintings became increasingly surreal, a characteristic also found in his abstract sculpture of this period. Storrs developed his own brand of quirky, hybrid Surrealism and, in formal terms, he began to set his images into motion…[The present work], dating from 1936, depicts a kind of mechanical wind-up toy; its head is a key that generates the forward motion of the body.” (John Storrs, exhibition catalogue, New York, 1986, p. 99) A smaller related painting is in the collection of the McNay Art Museum, San Antonio, Texas.