Graham Sutherland

Sutherland was interested in the emotional response derived from form, and in particular organic form. The shapes are not supposed to specifically be anything, its more what they suggest and the feeling it stirs. Often appearing menacing or threatening these forms often have human or animal qualities or elements more akin to tree thorns or roots. Here there is the dislocating, suggestive combination of a skull or head with an open and within a possible interior scene, on top of a vase like stem, against a jarringly cosy rich pink background.

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One of the leading British artists during and after WWW II he associated with the Neo-Romantics who emerged in the 1930s. His idiosyncratic wispy strokes have a suitably organic feel to them and are partly left over from the short sharp marks made in his early days as an etcher but also show similarities to the draftsmanship of other Neo-Romantics, such as Johns Piper, Minton and Craxton and also Henry Moore.

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Graham Sutherland was born in 1903 in Streatham. He attended Epsom School and then studied art at Goldsmith’s School of Art (1921-26) where he quickly became a highly skilled etcher. As an official War Artist, he earned renown with his depictions of bomb damage in London. He was awarded the Order of Merit in 1960 and died in London in 1980.

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