SIR WILLIAM RUSSELL FLINT, R.A., P.R.W.S. (BRITISH, 1880-1969)

The present lot depicts a playful scene of mutiny as three kitchen maids confront their mistress, refusing to work. One of the figures raises her hand in a gesture of defiance whilst another sits slouched, leg cocked as if to emphasise their performance of insubordination. Cecilia Green, a former model for Russell Flint, wrote in a letter to the present owner that Flint enjoyed gestures of rebellion against authority and made several paintings with similarly playful titles (Cecilia Green, Letter to the present owner, 7 February 1990). Green goes on to explain how all the figures in the picture were most likely modelled by one girl – Helen Thompson. Thompson remained close to Flint and she later became his house keeper, for such a time that she was with him when he died.
In Mutiny in the Kitchen Thompson wears many of Flint’s favourite studio costumes, including a black skirt made by Thompson herself out of blackout material. Additionally, Green recounts how Thompson wore a garment called the ‘Pink Jimp’, which was a ‘skimpy sleeveless blouse’.