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650
GBP
0 Bid(s)
1
GBP
500 - 800 GBP
Live auction
Lot closed
Lot location
Lewes, East Sussex
Josselin Bodley (1893-1974)oil on canvas,'Constantine' (Pont de Sidi Rached Bridge, Constantine, Algeria),signed, titled and dated 1928,18 x 15in.Exhibited Galerie Bernheim Jeune, Paris - 'Peintures de l'Afrique du Nord, du Pays Basque et de Venise' 5-16 November, 1928. Josselin Bodley (1893-1974)As much as any English artist in the first half of the twentieth century, Josselin Reginald Courtney Bodley's life and most resonant art were defined by his experiences in and near France. Though little has been written on his distinctive artistic contribution, it was moulded by a poetic appreciation of ancient architecture and its surrounds, by direct exposure to developments in painting in Europe refracted through a refined English sensibility - and by intense exposure to war. His most evocative and effective work synthesises tradition and stylistic modernity in magically realist visions of historical remnants and rural settings, rendered with exquisite care in a controlled and characteristic palette, and infused with a spectral, deeply atmospheric sense of the past. In the words of The Times art critic (4 November, 1933), his paintings offer a 'character that is very pleasing [and are] markedly linear in composition, sharply drawn, and executed in pale colours of great delicacy.' War and other sometimes dark histories leave their marks still, one feels, in the haunted presence of these buildings, in the absence of figures and the charged sense of place, in the typically bare trees and silent, unyielding skies. Yet there is a great tranquillity too - a secular equivalence to the calm rapture of early Flemish painting perhaps - an immanence opposing the ravages of time. Without the continual support of new books, articles and exhibitions, the cultural memory is surprisingly short and, perhaps because he was not prolific and his paintings surface only rarely, Bodley's achievements are now largely overlooked. However, in the inter-war period, he was considered amongst the most promising artists of his generation, a painter who bridged a gap between the still vibrant avant-garde approaches issuing from France and a typically guarded English insularity. Though standing apart from important artistic groups emerging in Britain in the 1930s, he was at this time represented by four of the most adventurous galleries in the Western world; by Bernheim Jeune in Paris who held five exhibitions of his work between 1928 and 1934; by Leicester Galleries in London with whom he exhibited first alongside Henry Moore in 1933, and then also in 1935 and 1937; by Marie Harriman Gallery in New York and by Alfred Flechtheim in Berlin. His paintings were purchased by museums across Europe and the USA. Unusually for an English painter shaped by French artistic modernity, he was also a decorated war hero. Enlisting first as a Second Lieutenant in The King's Royal Rifle Corps at the outbreak in 1914 he remained militarily active throughout much of WWI - despite being wounded at Ypres in 1915 - leaving the army in 1919 with a Military Cross and the rank of Captain. His earliest surviving paintings date from this period and their atmospheric subject matter of ruined buildings and blasted leafless trees on the frontline prefigure much of the still, melancholic resonance of his finest mature work (see 'Shelley Farm, St. Eloi' and 'Polygon Wood, Ypres' at BBC Your Paintings / Josselin Bodley). Later in life he also received one of France's highest civilian honours - for artistic achievements and cultural activities - becoming a Chevalier of the Legion d'Honneur. The artist was born into a patrician family, whose lineage included the sixteenth century founder of Oxford's Bodleain Library, Sir Thomas Bodley, and was the second son of John Edward Courtney Bodley. His father, a college and masonic friend of Oscar Wilde's at Balliol, worked first as secretary to the Liberal Minister Sir Charles Dilke but - after Dilke's political hopes were ruined in a famous divorce scandal - gradually emerged as the period's most important English historian of France. Through his father's wide circle of influential contacts and those of his brother Ronald and his sister Ava, Bodley was linked to some of the most important political and cultural figures of his generation. Ronald became a noted Arabist - recording his time amongst the tribesmen of North Africa in a life that reads somewhat like that of T. E. Lawrence in the Middle East - and Ava was married first to the diplomat Ralph Wigram and then to John Anderson, Churchill's Home Secretary and Chancellor of the Exchequer during WWII.Much of the artist's early life was spent in France with his father, visiting the great and the good and unconsciously absorbing the atmosphere of the architectural riches of the French countryside. School at Eton followed this privileged but nomadic boyhood, after which Bodley left England for a garret flat in Paris, intent on a career as an artist - though such hopes were postponed by the outbreak of WWI. He returned again afterwards, and paintings of the 1920s can be seen experimenting with and evolving through his direct exposure to the various competing styles of the period. Works in this phase manifest subtle shades of influence from post impressionism (Lot ??), decorative cubism, purism (Lot ??) and surrealism. As his work developed through the 1930s - when the artist was based in England - there is a strong sense of something equivalent to the New Objectivity in German painting (see in particular examples of Franz Radziwill's work such as 'Church in the Vendee' 1932). It was a clear and modern vision with technical and formal links to Edward Wadsworth's tranquil harbour paintings of the 1920s, to the contemporaneous landscape work of Harry Epworth Allen and particularly to the development of Tristram Hillier's less overtly surrealistic and architectural compositions of the 1930s. This small collection of eloquent and evocative works - depictions of the living past that still carry great pictorial and poetic charge - offers a long overdue insight into the oeuvre of an original, talented and noteworthy artist.
Live
Venue address
15 North Street
Lewes, East Sussex
BN7 2PD
United Kingdom
Fine Art, Antiques and Collectables
Auction dates
21 Oct 2015 10:00 BST
Lots: 653
22 Oct 2015 10:00 BST
Lots: 639
Viewing dates
16 Oct 2015 09:00 - 17:00 BST
17 Oct 2015 09:00 - 14:00 BST
19 Oct 2015 09:00 - 17:00 BST
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We can offer a delivery service for Lots purchased by packing and shipping ourselves. If we cannot pack certain items we will recommend third party logistics companies that can help. Estimates for Shipping Costs for smaller items can be calculated pre-sale upon request and are based on value, size and your chosen UK destination. For items purchased the actual cost can be added to your account and paid online after the sale. If you purchase multiple Lots from the same auction, we will combine packaging/deliveries to reduce the Shipping Costs if this is possible. For lots for which Shipping Costs cannot be calculated, such as furniture, or larger items, upon request you can obtain a recommended Shipping Company either in advance of the sale or after you have purchased. Gorringes do not offer international shipping.
Estimates of Shipping Costs are based on the low estimate, whilst the actual cost is based on Hammer Price.
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14. Artist's Re-Sale Right
From mid February 2006 living artists are entitled to receive a re-sale royalty each time their artwork is bought or sold by an art market professional. This new law has been introduced in the UK following a European directive. Works sold for a sum of 1000 euros (approximately £680) or more will be subject to the following additional charge as per the scale rate shown below. This will be charged to the buyer of any eligible lots and will be based on the hammer price. Lots that may potentially incur this charge will be announced from the rostrum.
Portion of the sale price Royalty Rate
From 0 to 50,000 euro 4%
From 50,000.01 to 200,000 euro 3%
From 200,000.01 to 350,000 euro 1%
From 350,000.01 to 500,000 euro 0.5%
Exceeding 500,000 euro 0.25%
14. Packing and shipping. Postage and packing can be arranged by the Auctioneers and will be charged at cost of postage/delivery plus an additional charge of £10 for the first lot and £2 for each additional lot. Insurance can be arranged subject to the terms of the carriers, however all packing will be at the purchaser's risk. PLEASE NOTE WE DO NOT SHIP FURNITURE / LONGCASE CLOCKS / OVERMANTELS AND OTHER LARGE / FRAGILE ITEMS OF CERAMICS THIS FALLS AS THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE SUCCESSFUL BIDDER. SHOULD YOU HAVE ANY DOUBT RE: SHIPPING PLEASE CONTACT BEFORE BIDDING. Please see our shipping disclaimer below:
GORRINGES SHIPPING POLICY
Whilst Gorringes are happy to pack and arrange postage for most lots purchased it remains the purchasers' responsibility to select the required service and level of insurance.
Parcelforce will not compensate for the loss or damage to any of the following;
Antiques
Items made from precious metal
Watches
Ceramics
Diamonds/precious stones.
Glassware
Jewellery
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The following shippers/carriers provide a superior insured service; DHL or Alban Shipping (which will incur greater expense).
CONDITION REPORTS
IT IS STRONGLY ADVISED FOR ALL BIDDERS TO REQUEST A CONDITION REPORT PRIOR TO BIDDING, WE MAKE NO GUARANTEES ABOUT CONDITION ON ANY ITEM WITHOUT REFERENCE TO A PREVIOUSLY REQUESTED CONDITION REPORT.
Please note there is a live bidding fee of 3% on the buyer's premium of 21%, total premium payable is 24% plus VAT.