- Museum number
- 2004,0601.29
- Description
-
Untitled; abstraction employing charcoal lines in curves and a spiral r, with splashes of white paint. c.1951
Charcoal and white oil paint over light pastel ground on Japanese paper
- Production date
- 1951
- Dimensions
-
Height: 472 millimetres
-
Width: 442 millimetres
- Curator's comments
- Text from 'Living with art: The Alexander Walker collection' (British Museum Press, 2020):
In his early career Pasmore worked in a figurative style, but he gradually moved towards abstraction in the 1940s. The emergence of the spiral motif in his work in around 1948 marks the completion of that journey. In this drawing Pasmore explored ideas for his painting 'The Snowstorm: Spiral Motif in Black and White', which was commissioned by the Arts Council for the exhibition 60 Paintings for ’51, part of the Festival of Britain. The motif was inspired by spirals in nature, including the waves on Porthmeor Beach, which Pasmore had drawn on a visit to St Ives in 1950 (Alan Bowness and Luigi Lambertini, 'Victor Pasmore: A Catalogue Raisonné of the Paintings, Constructions and Graphics, 1926–1979', London: Thames and Hudson, 1980, p. 13).
In addition to this drawing, Walker owned five prints by Pasmore. He was particularly attracted to the spiral works because he saw in them ‘Pasmore’s epiphany … turning from figuration to abstraction’ (Alexander Walker, ‘A Member’s Collection’, The Art Quarterly of the National Art Collections Fund, 15 (autumn 1993), pp. 26–29 (p. 27)). At the time he bought this drawing, the Serpentine Gallery, London were holding a retrospective of the artist’s work (16 April–27 May 1991).
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
-
2004-2005 Jun-Jan, BM, Matisse to Freud: The Alexander Walker Bequest
2006 Oct-Dec, Lincoln, Usher Gallery, (Sth Bank Tour), Matisse to Freud
2007 Jan-Mar, Leicester, New Walk (Sth Bank Tour), Matisse to Freud
2007 Mar-May, Leeds, Harewood House, (Sth Bank Tour), Matisse to Freud
2007 Jul-Sep, Gateshead, Shipley AG, (Sth Bank Tour), Matisse to Freud
2013 Feb-May, BM, Ice Age Art
2013, Jun-Sep, Santander, Botin Art Centre, 'Art in the Age of Altamira'
2020, 14 Jan - 5 March, London, BM, G90a, Living with Art: Picasso to Celmins (The Alexander Walker collection)
2020 11-24 Dec, Banbridge, F.E. McWilliam Gallery and Studio, Living with art
2021 10 May-7 Jun, National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin, Living with art
2021 24 Jul-2 Oct, Doncaster, Danum Gallery, Library and Museum, Living with art
2022 21 Jan-24 Apr, Bideford, The Burton, Living with art
- Acquisition date
- 2004
- Acquisition notes
- Purchased by Alexander Walker from Austin/Desmond Fine Art, London on 01/05/91, priced £3500 (labels on back of original frame).
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 2004,0601.29