Christopher Wood

(British, 1901-1930)

Church and Bridge, Rome 45.8 x 54.7 cm. (18 x 21 1/2 in.)

Footnotes

Provenance
With The Redfern Gallery, London, where acquired by the family of the present owner, by 1938
Private Collection, U.K.

Exhibited
Probably London, The Redfern Gallery, Christopher Wood, 5-28 March 1936, cat.no.49 (as Church and Bridge
London, The Redfern Gallery, Christopher Wood, Exhibition of Complete Works, 3 March-2 April 1938, cat.no.129

Literature
Eric Newton, Christopher Wood 1901-1930, The Redfern Gallery, London, 1938, p.66, cat.no.120

Having spent much of the beginning of 1925 with Jean Cocteau at their shared Paris studio, Wood soon left for Marseille and then Monte Carlo with long term friend and Chilean diplomat Tony Gandarillas. It was on the French Riviera that the young artist met and spent time with Picasso who he described as the 'Leonardo of today' and enjoyed seeing The Russian Ballet which was a magnet for fashionable society and a draw for many celebrated artists including Cocteau and Picasso who had both worked for them in the past. However, Gandarillas' flippancy on the gambling tables and the unexpected arrival of Wood's Aunt Edith and Uncle Alan called for a change of scene and the pair travelled to Rome.

On a previous visit in 1923 Wood had described Rome as 'the place that gives me most' and 'the mother of the world...someday I will live here' (Richard Ingleby, Christopher Wood, An English Painter, London, 1995, p.73). Returning in 1925, he was to spend time with Igor Stravinsky the Russian composer, pianist and conductor, Lord Berners and Louisa Casati whose luxurious house had gates flanked by two golden leopards and numerous exotic animals within. During this trip, Wood was to make some of his most successful drawings to date, having been encouraged by Picasso to give up red chalk in favour of hard pencil. Of particular merit was Piazza del Popolo which aptly translates the grandeur of the church of St Maria del Popolo and surrounding architecture with incredible simplicity. The concept of tackling complexity with simplicity was a lesson learnt from both Cocteau and Picasso and also became a key instinct of one of Wood's closest artistic allies, Ben Nicholson, whose Italian drawings from his travels in the 1950s reflect this also.

The present work, painted with typical fluency and energy, depicts the Basilica di San Giovanni dei Fiorentini located in Via Giulia.

We are grateful to Robert Upstone for his assistance in cataloguing the present lot, to be including in the forthcoming catalogue raisonné of Christopher Wood's paintings.