Clare Leighton

(British/American, 1898-1989)

Portrait of Mahatma Gandhi, 1931

Footnotes

Provenance
The artist, thence by descent to the current owner.

Exhibited
London, Albany Gallery, 1931.
Boston, Boston Public Library, Clare Leighton - An Exhibition: American Sheaves English Seed Corn, 1978, no.842, illustrated on p.22.

Literature
H.S.L. Polak, H.N. Brailsford and Lord Pethick-Lawrence, Mahatma Gandhi, London, 1949, illustrated between pp 224 and 225.

The artist Clare Leighton was introduced to Mahatma Gandhi when he visited London to attend the Second Round Table Conference, which took place from 7 September to 1 December 1931. At the time, Leighton was in a relationship with the political journalist Henry Noel Brailsford. Brailsford was a passionate supporter of Indian independence, having travelled to the country in 1930, and published his book Rebel India in support of the cause in the year he first met Gandhi at the Round Table Conference. Through this connection Leighton was introduced to Gandhi and was one of the very few artists admitted to his office. She was given the opportunity to sit with him on multiple occasions to sketch and paint his likeness. This resulted in the present oil portrait of Gandhi, said to be the only painting for which he ever sat.

In November of 1931 Clare Leighton showcased her portraits of Gandhi in an exhibition at the Albany Galleries in Sackville Street, London. The journalist Winifred Holtby, a friend of the artist, attended the opening and wrote about the event in her weekly column for the trade union magazine The Schoolmistress (26 November 1931). 'Members of Parliament and ex-Members, artists, journalists and art critics, stood among exquisite Indian women in bright saris, and the dignified figures of some of the chief Hindu representatives at the Conference. Mrs Naidu, the statesman-poet, was there... and Sir Purshotamdas Thakurdas, one of the Mahatma's colleagues.' Gandhi himself did not attend the party, but it was noted that he was most vitally present in the works on display, which included the oil portrait presented on an easel. Holtby commented on Leighton's ability to capture the humour, humanity, personal simplicity and intellectual subtlety of Gandhi in this particular portrait. Describing the painting in more detail, Holtby wrote: 'The little man squats bare-headed, in his blanket, one finger raised, as it often is to emphasise a point, his lips parted for a word that is almost a smile. That is very much as I saw him when he came as guest to a big luncheon in Westminster at which I was present a little while ago. He was the political leader there, the subtle negotiator, the manipulator of Congress, the brilliant lawyer, the statesman who knows just how to play on the psychology of friends and enemies alike.'

The following month Gandhi's personal secretary, Mohadev Desai, wrote a letter to Clare Leighton regarding the oil portrait, a copy of which is now attached to the backing board. It reads:

Dear Mrs Brailsford [i.e. Clare Leighton],

It was such a pleasure to have had you here for many mornings doing Mr Gandhi's portrait. I am sorry I didn't see the final result, but many of my friends who saw it in the Albany Gallery said to me that it was a good likeness. I am quite sure Mr Gandhi has no objection to its being reproduced.

Yours sincerely,
Mahadev Desai

After 1931 there does not appear to be any record of Leighton's oil portrait of Gandhi being exhibited again until 1978, when the Boston Public Library staged an exhibition of the artist's work titled Clare Leighton: American Sheaves English Seed Corn. However, according to the artist's family, the portrait was thought to have been on public display in 1974 when it was attacked with a knife by an R.S.S. activist. We have found no documentation to corroborate this event, but the painting shows signs of restoration to what appears to be repaired tears in several places. A label attached to the backing board confirms that the painting was restored in 1974 by the Lyman Allyn Museum Conservation Laboratory, which adds some validity to the family's story.

The present work remained in the artist's collection until her death in 1989, after which it was passed down through her family. Bonhams are delighted to be offering this rare portrait for the first time at auction.