G R A H A M  S U T H E R L A N D 

1903-1980

Purple Vine Pergola

Pencil, chalk, watercolor and gouache on paper

49 x 63 cm

Signed and dated 'Sutherland' (lower right)

PROVENANCE:

Acquired directly from the artist by;

Giorgio Soavi (1923-2008), Milan

This work is clearly related to the series of oils the Sutherland produced circa 1948 around the subject of the Vine Pergola. Sutherland made his first visit to the South of France in 1947, staying on the Riviera for five weeks in the spring, regularly painting and gambling with Francis Bacon. From then on Sutherland spent part of each year there, buying a house at Menton in 1955. The South of France and the Mediterranean presented a different world to Sutherland and had a huge impact on his work. The landscape and vegetation, together with the bright Mediterranean sun, changed Sutherland’s palette to one of brilliant colour – pinks, yellows and blues. The palm palisades and vine pergolas replaced the spiky thorn heads earlier in the decade.

The gifted Italian writer Giorgio Soavi was friends with Giacometti (who painted his portrait, like Sutherland), Balthus, de Chirico, among others, as well as Englishman Graham Sutherland. He owned a great collection of works, a large number by Graham Sutherland dating from the 1940s through to the 1970s.

On his long friendship with Sutherland, Soavi wrote 'When I met Graham Sutherland I knew from the very beginning that I could write on him: my first desire was to become his friend, the second desire that probably anticipated the first one was to collect some of his works for my house in Milan…”.

It must be mentioned that Soavi was not only a storyteller capable of narrating through his writings, he was also an excellent photographer, as Graham Sutherland defined him, he was 'an exceptional photographer'. His photographic guide to Sutherland’s work and subject matter is fundamental in understanding how the artist developed his style - I Luoghi di Graham Sutherland, Albra Editrice 1973.

SOLD