SOLDRed, december 1919
Passe-partout (ref: 3389)
Pencil and watercolour on paper, 7 x 6 3/4 in. (17.5 x 17 cm.)
(9 3/4 x 9 3/4 in. (24.5 x 24.5 cm.) framed)
SOLDPencil and watercolour on paper, 7 x 6 3/4 in. (17.5 x 17 cm.)
(9 3/4 x 9 3/4 in. (24.5 x 24.5 cm.) framed)
‘Great advances were made by the artists of the last generation in the treatment of form and of colour, it is doubtful whether the twentieth century will not be marked by certain discoveries’ (James Wood, introduction to R.A. Wilson: Exhibition of Paintings and Colour Studies, exh. cat., Guild of Decorators Syndicate, London, May 1922).
Exploring colour harmony was central to Wilson’s work and a subject on which he wrote and lectured. ‘Colour: its meaning and use, logic,mystery, symbolism and power’ was the title of his BBC radio broadcast talk, in May 1920. His paintings, which go beyond the routine colour studies based on Chevruel’s theories, were much studied by art students of the period, and were part of a wider discourse that was taking place at the time, led by intellectual luminaries such as James Wood.
