Circus Pony, John Maxwell R.S.A., S.S.A. (1905-1962)

John Maxwell R.S.A., S.S.A. (1905-1962).

Circus Pony.

Oil on panel.
Signed and dated 1941.
Inscribed with title and dated 1941 verso.
36 x 30 ins.
1941.

Provenance:
With Alexander Reid and Lefevre.
Collection of Sir Michael Redgrave OBE.
Private collection.
Collection of Douglas de Jager.

Exhibited:
Royal Scottish Academy, 1941, no. 293.
Arts Council of Great Britain, 'Paintings and Watercolours by W.G. Gillies and John Maxwell', Edinburgh, 1954, no.35.
National Galleries of Scotland and the Arts Council of Great Britain 'John Maxwell 1905-1962 - an Exhibition and catalogue of his work', Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh 1963, no.71.
Duncan R. Miller Fine Arts, 'Aspects of 20th Century Scottish Art', Glasgow & London, 1996/7, no.34.
National Galleried of Scotland, 'John Maxwell 1905-1962', Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh 1998/9, no.40.

Literature
Douglas Hall catalogue, 'John Maxwell 1905-1962 - An exhibition and catalogue of his work', p.8 and full page illustration plate no.7.
Duncan R Miller Fine Arts, 'Aspects of 20th Century Scottish Art', London, 1996, p.11 and full page colour illustration p.41.
Philip Long catalogue, 'John Maxwell 1905-1962, pages 25 & 79 with full illustration in colour p.54, pl.17.

Biography

The mysterious, evocative works of John Maxwell are among the most original and individual to be found in 20th Century Scottish Art. John Maxwell studied under Leger and Ozenfant. Although he absorbed the teaching of Cubism, it was to Symbolism that he turned for inspiration, in particular to the French artist, Odilon Redon, and the lyrical, dream like pictures of the Russian born artist Marc Chagall.

Maxwell's approach to his work was intuitive and highly inventive. With his great love of music and poetry, he tended to look inwards to the world of dreams and imagination. A perfectionist by nature, he was extremely self critical and destroyed so many of his own pictures that only about 200 works in total, oils, watercolours and drawings, now remain.

 Maxwell's oil paintings are characterized by thickly applied pigment which he often put on with a palette knife to build up a heavy impasto, working slowly and often scraping out and reworking certain areas, yet always marrying the sensuous charm of the medium to the very essence of his own vision.

Moreover, his use of rich colour draws on the Scottish Colourist tradition. All these qualities are wonderfully demonstrated in Circus Pony, which, as with most of his oeuvre, transports the viewer to a far continent at once familiar and strange, enchanting and poignant.

Dimensions

Price on application

This object is eligible for a Certificate of BADA Provenance