Duncan Grant

Duncan Grant (1885-1978)
The Blue Tablecloth
Signed and dated l.l.: D. Grant/32, oil on canvas board

Provenance
Thomas Agnew & Sons, London (7524); sold to
Isobel Jeans, 20 July 1932;
Wyndham T. Vint, Bradford;
Christie’s London, 16 July 2014, lot 102 where bought by the present owner

Grant’s painting style was influenced by the French Post-Impressionist exhibitions organized in London by Roger Fry in 1910. He painted still lifes throughout his life, constantly juxtaposing different objects, fruit and plants on a tabletop. Here the skillfully painted blue tablecloth provides a backdrop to the carefully arranged bowl of fruit with black grapes, bananas and apples juxtaposed with a bottle, seen in many of his still lifes. A couple of red roses balance the composition.

This still life was most probably painted at Charleston, Grant’s home in Sussex which he shared with Vanessa Bell. He moved there with his lover David Garnett and Bell’s two children Julian and Quentin. Their father Clive Bell was a frequent visitor, although he kept his permanent home in London.

Agnew’s sold many paintings for Duncan Grant over the course of his lifetime.