Graham SUTHERLAND

Drawn in 1962, the present sheet is a fine example of Graham Sutherland's studies after nature, which often take on a visionary quality that links them to the work of such earlier English artists as Samuel Palmer. As one scholar has noted, ‘Sutherland’s method of working is a lengthy, painstaking and conscientious process. In his nature painting, he begins by making sketches from objects which catch his eye – objects with curious, sometimes rather alarming shapes. From these accurate drawings he proceeds to variations, to create a new pictorial reality which becomes the visual equivalent of his own feelings and emotions. After a number of intermediary sketches in watercolour and gouache, he finally decides on the definitive version to be translated into oil…It is above all in his free translation of nature-forms that Sutherland’s work is imbued with a disturbing visionary quality, similar to that found in…the mysterious forest landscapes and tortured scared figures in northern art of the sixteenth century. It is, indeed, this strong northern, emotional quality, fraught with mystery, which makes people see Sutherland’s work as a continuation of the English romantic tradition.’