Oil on canvas
77 x 61cm
Eardley Knollys was a deeply impressive and charming figure. Educated at Winchester and later at Christ Church, Oxford, he led a varied and adventurous life, at one point even directing silent films in Hollywood, before ultimately establishing himself as a respected art critic and dealer, specialising in Modern British and French art. Known for his flair and impeccable taste, Knollys moved in illustrious circles and counted among his friends Pablo Picasso, Duncan Grant, Frances Partridge and Lady Ottoline Morrell.
In 1936, Knollys took over the Storran Gallery on Old Brompton Road. Together with his partner, Frank Coombs, he transformed it into one of London’s leading avant-garde galleries. The gallery hosted solo exhibitions by major artists such as Soutine, Modigliani, Grant and Picasso. This golden period ended in 1941, when Coombs, who had enlisted at the start of the war, was killed in a bombing raid in Belfast. Grief-stricken, Knollys closed the gallery permanently. By then in his fifties, Knollys retired and finally took the advice of his friend Edward Le Bas, who had long encouraged him to take up painting seriously, and devoted himself fully to the practice.
His style was shaped largely by the Bloomsbury artists whose work he had championed as a dealer. Yet his bold use of vibrant, riotous colour reflected a deeper affinity with the expressive freedom of Post-Impressionism, particularly the Fauves, whose non-mimetic use of colour resonated strongly with him. His paintings also revealed a keen understanding of the Pont-Aven school and les Nabis, especially the Breton works of Gauguin, whom he greatly admired. His work was infused with a strong sense of style and sensuality, fueled by a deep fascination with the emotional potential of colour, clearly evident in the present work. Duncan Grant described his paintings as marked by “such courageous enthusiasm... he is one of the purest painters I know.”
