35. Cedric Morris
Flowers in a Blue Vase
Oil on canvas
44.5 x 61 cm
Signed & dated 1942
est. $170,000 - 260,000
Fetched $210,000
Relative Size: Flowers in a Blue Vase
Relative size

Provenance:
Clement Butson Esq, purchased from The Leicester Galleries, London. Above named on original purchase label affixed verso. Ernest Brown & Phillips label affixed verso Purchased from Abbott and Holder, London, c. 1968, by New Zealand owner

Cedric Morris was a painter of the natural world and one of the twentieth century's most original British artists. Born in South Wales, he was the son of George Lockwood Morris (later Sir George Lockwood Morris, 8th Baronet) and Wilhelmina (née Cory). The Morris family rose to prominence in Swansea in the mid-18th century through their success in the copper smelting business.

In 1909 at 19 years of age, after failing examinations to join the army, Morris travelled to Port Nelson Canada, returning to Wales in 1910. He enrolled at the Royal Academy of Music, London but by 1914 was following his true passion and studying art at the Académie Delécluse in Montparnasse. Paris was an incredibly exciting place for a young artist to be, but all of this changed with the outbreak of war. Morris returned to London where he worked in the Remount Service which trained horses to serve on the front line. At an Armistice Day party in 1918 Morris met his life-long partner, Arthur Lett-Haines (1894-1978), known as Lett. In 1919 they moved to Newlyn in Cornwall, retaining a London base by sub-leasing New Zealand expatriate artist, Frances Hodgkin's studio in Kensington. In that year Morris painted a watercolour portrait of Frances Hodgkins and a long friendship ensued which lasted until her death. Morris's 1928 oil portrait of Frances Hodgkins hangs in the Auckland City Art Gallery, and hers of him, Man with a Macaw 1930, hangs in the Towner Art Gallery, Eastbourne.

It was in Newlyn that Morris began painting in oils, the media suited him well and his method of applying paint quickly and confidently to the canvas caused great excitement among his fellow artists. Morris and Lett remained in Newlyn until late 1920 when they moved to Paris. At this time Paris was one of Europe's most artistically vibrant cities. Its cafes and bars were the meeting points and melting pots of great artistic creativity. Morris and Lett counted amongst their friends luminaries such as Marcel Duchamp, Peggy Guggenheim and Man Ray. During this time Morris and Lett, along with their friends, travelled extensively throughout Europe as well as Algeria and Tunisia, painting all the while.

After seven years in Paris the couple embraced a new life chapter, setting up a home and studio in London's Great Ormond Street. As in the past, their home was a base not only for work, but many joyful social gatherings. The subject matter for Morris' paintings, whether it be animals or the plants and flowers he collected and loved to paint, all co-existed under the one roof. In 1928 Morris represented Britain at the Venice Biennale. Later that year, a major solo exhibition of his work was held by prominent London dealers, Arthur Tooth & Sons. The show was a resounding success and a complete sellout. Morris's position as a leading British painter of the day was firmly established.

By 1930 a yearning for the countryside and a quieter life saw Morris and Lett leave London to live at Pound Farm in Suffolk. It was here that Morris painted some of his most important still-life works. Of this time, former student, Joan Warbuton recalls a visit to the studio: to go in their quietly when Cedric was painting the favourite of all his flowers, Irises, was a revelation. In 1937 Morris and Lett opened the East Anglian School of Painting and Drawing, the summer school based in Dedham, Essex adopted a rather unique approach in that it set out to reassure and encourage, rather than criticise its students. Lucien Freud was one of many great artists who attended classes held by Cedric Morris. In 1939 the school building was destroyed by fire suspected to have been started accidentally by Freud who was smoking inside the building. By the mid 1940s Morris and Lett had not only set up home at Benton End, Suffolk but had also re-established the school there.

Since before the war, Morris had been gaining prominence within the gardening world as a breeder of irises and collector of exotic plants, and from the late-1940s onwards, during the winter months when the school was closed, Morris would disappear abroad hunting for new plant specimens. As well as rare plants, Morris would also return with souvenirs such as plant pots and ancient pottery, as well as more practical mementos such as vegetable seeds which later in the year provided Lett with the exotic ingredients for his famously delicious dinners.

By the 1960s during the winter months when the school closed its doors, Morris continued to travel and paint as he had done all his life. Lett chose to stay at home, while Morris explored venues such as St Helena, Libya, Tunisia and Cyprus. In the early 1970s his eyesight began to fail and one of his last trips abroad was to Portugal in late 1973. Lett passed away in 1978 and four years later Cedric Morris died at 92 years of age.

Reference:
Cedric Morris: Beyond the Garden Wall, Philip Mould Ltd, England, 2018, published for the exhibition of 18 April - 22 July 2018

Cedric Morris, Tate Gallery, The Hillingdon Press, Uxbridge, Middlesex, 1984, published for the exhibition of 28 March - 13 May 1984

Cedric Morris: Artist Plantsman, Andrew Lambirth, Garden Museum, London, 2018

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