£700
Details study of a pear tree
Passe-partout (ref: 4637)
Pen and ink with wash, 6 1/8 x 7 1/4 in. (15.5 x 18.5 cm.)
Pen and ink with wash, 6 1/8 x 7 1/4 in. (15.5 x 18.5 cm.)
Provenance: The Artist's Studio
Mahoney’s interest in formal gardens and plants such as auriculas and old roses – all deeply unfashionable at the time – is typical of the originality and independence of his vision. His unbridled enthusiasm for plants was shared with Edward Bawden, Geoffrey Rhoades, John Nash and Evelyn Dunbar, with whom he swapped cuttings by post. The correspondence between this circle is full of exchanges about the discovery, nurturing and drawing of new potential subjects. Mahoney’s plant studies are so remarkably complete in their own right that it is barely possible to attempt to mark a line between botanical study and still life. The two became one and the same; and although some of his compositions were clearly arranged, they rarely appear contrived.
