John Rattenbury Skeaping RA

(British, 1901-1980)

Stag 19.2 cm. (7 1/2 in.) high (excluding the base) unique

Footnotes

Provenance
Probably Collection of Mrs Rachel Cohen Gorer (1873–1954), thence by descent to
Mr Peter Alfred Gorer (1907-1961) and Mrs Elizabeth K. Gorer (1913-2016), by 1978
Private Collection, U.S.A.

Exhibited
London, Arthur Tooth Gallery, New Sculpture by John Skeaping and Barbara Hepworth, 15 October-15 November 1930, cat.no.18

Literature
Jonathan Blackwood, The Sculpture of John Skeaping, Lund Humphries in association with the Henry Moore Foundation, London and Much Hadham, 2011, p.82, cat.no.81 (ill.b&w)

The ironstone from which Stag is carved links it to holidays Skeaping spent at Happisburgh, Norfolk in the summers of 1930 and 1931. Henry Moore was among those who joined Barbara Hepworth and John Skeaping on both occasions and throughout the early 1930s all three artists used the material for modestly sized direct carving. As Skeaping recalled "Henry, Barbara and I used to pick up large ironstone pebbles on the beach which were ideal for carving and polished up like bronze" (John Skeaping, Drawn from Life: An Autobiography, London 1977, pp.91-2).

A noted animalier from his first works to his last, Skeaping's carvings in ironstone illustrate the breadth of his fascination with various creatures; other examples include Fish (1929-30, Tate Gallery, London), Duck (1930, Private Collection) and Ox (circa 1930, Private Collection). Amongst these Stag is especially complex being formed from three individual stones. Following the approach prevalent amongst his peers of 'truth to material', Skeaping has selected each pebble shape for its specific purpose; the body, the neck and the antlers. The general form of each has then been highly refined and then assembled to the sleek, stylised final figure of the recumbent beast.

Rachel Cohen Gorer was widowed at an early age. Her husband, Edgar Gorer a leading scholar and dealer in Chinese art, perished with the sinking of RMS Lusitania in 1915. Following the tragedy, Rachel developed a long and fast friendship with Dame Edith Sitwell and became well acquainted with the leading artists exhibiting in England during the interwar years. Her passion for collecting extended to her three children Peter, Geoffrey and Richard. The family amassed a broad and significant collection including works by Pavel Tchelitchew, Frances Hodgkins, Paul Cézanne, Francis Bacon and Barbara Hepworth (specifically Figure of a Woman (1929-30) now in the collection of the Tate Gallery). Also in the collection were seven works by John Skeaping, all owned by Elizabeth Gorer (by the late 1970s) and until now, all considered lost.

We are grateful to Nicholas Skeaping for his assistance in cataloguing this lot.