John Cecil Stephenson:
Perseus and Andromeda, 1945
Unmounted (ref: 875)

Oil on card

Signed, dated and inscribed with title on reverse

16 x 22 1/2 (40.5 x 57 cm.)

Tags: John Cecil Stephenson oil Canney Abstract Art Hidden Gems - Nudes

Provenance: Marjorie Guthrie; private collection

Stephenson's composition of Perseus has much in common with that of Christopher Wood's 'Nude with Red Scarf', private collection. 

Stephenson made his first abstract paintings around 1932. In 1934 he exhibited with the 7 & 5 Society, along with Ben and Winifred Nicholson, Ivon Hitchens, Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth and John Piper.  Though not today as well known as many of his contemporaries he was one of the key figures in the development of abstract art in Britain.  Indeed Herbert Reed noted that Stephenson 'was one of the earliest artists in this country to develop a completely abstract style' and credited him with being  the father figure of the 'gentle nest of artists' (Ben and Winifred Nicholson, Barbara Hepworth and Henry Moore) who occupied the Mall Studio's in Hampstead.  At the beginning of WW2 Calder and Mondrian counted amongst his friends and were frequent visitors to The Mall Studios.

Piet Mondrian photographed in a Hampstead garden by John Cecil Stephenson 1939 Estate of John Cecil Stephenson/Tate Archive During World War Two, as preparation for larger works (materials being in short supply), Stephenson worked on a series of small studies in oil on card. They were stimulated by the devastation resulting from the bombing of London (also recorded figuratively by Stephenson during this period). In the following decade some of the designs were later realized as larger oils.

Stephenson's inscription on the reverse: