Robert O Lenkiewicz [1941-2002] - Mouse with Wool (SF20/87) offered in our The Lenkiewicz Legacy Sale starting on 28th March 2015 at our salerooms in Exeter, Devon.

Lot Description

Notes

'A turning point' An early watercolour sketch of this painting includes Lenkiewicz's design notes. These explain the colour harmonies, method of construction of the perspective and use of the Golden Section, a mathematical ratio known since the Classical Age to give aesthetically pleasing and harmonious qualities to pictures and architecture. The sketches show that Lenkiewicz had meant to place the three chairs in the picture in an unbroken line, a reference to Marcel Duchamp's the Bride Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors, Even (1923), but later altered the composition to heighten visual drama with broken perspective. Rembrandt appears, smiling in a detail from the 1662 Self-Portrait as Zeuxis (the 5th century BC Greek painter). A comparison with the preparatory sketch shows how the finished work made use of one of only two Rembrandt self-portraits in which the artist faces left. X-ray analysis would show how this change seems to have been dictated when the leftmost seated figure, originally a rear view facing away, was later rotated in the composition with a new model to face away from sitter, Celia 'Mouse' Mills, Robert's first wife. The theme of the painting relates to the passing of time and, like Duchamp's work, this painting was long in the making. Mouse has said that she made countless sittings for it over a six year period. Lenkiewicz viewed it as 'a significant turning point piece'.

Provenance

The Lenkiewicz Foundation Collection. * Exhibited. The Painter With Women (Retrospective Section), ICC Birmingham 1994; Plymouth City Museum Retrospective, 1997; Wolverhampton Art Gallery, A Retrospective, 1998; Plymouth City Museum And Art Gallery, 2009; Royal West Of England Academy, Bristol 2011; Royal William Yard, Plymouth, 2012; Spinnerei, Leipzig, And Nuremberg, Germany, 2013 (see Introduction For Post-2007 Exhibition Details).

Estimate

£20,000 - £30,000

VAT

VAT on Buyer's Premium

Fine Art Category

20th Century and Modern British Pictures

Fine Art Knowledge Base

• Robert Oscar Lenkiewicz (1941-2002)

Contact

For more information about this particular auction lot, please contact:-

Okehampton Street, Exeter

Telephone: +44 (01392) 413100

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Legal Notice

Please note that this sale will be subject to our usual Terms and Conditions. Your attention is drawn to our conditions of sale, our information for buyers and our information for sellers. Please also note our premium and commission charges.

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