2nd Oct, 2024 14:00
From the Studio: Works from 17 Artists' Estates
158
⊕ LIONEL BULMER (BRITISH 1919-1992)
Lionel Bulmer (lots 158-169)
Introduction
Lionel Bulmer’s coastal views of summer on the Suffolk coast came to define his career. His impressionistic style was ideally suited to evoking the realism of a hot summers day on the sand dunes. The critic Ian Collins noted of Bulmer’s work: ‘the season appears to be one of permanent summer.’
The son of an architect, Bulmer's studies at Clapham School of Art were interrupted by being conscripted at the outbreak of the Second World War. On being de-mobbed he studied at the Royal College of Art, at that time relocated in Ambleside in the Lake District, where he met fellow artist and life partner to be Margaret Green. When the RCA returned to Kensington Bulmer and Green were taught by, among others, Ruskin Spear and Carel Weight. When Green received an RCA travel scholarship the couple embarked on a tour of discovery, painting their way through France and Italy for the best part of a year.
On their return to London they settled in Chelsea, Bulmer taught at Kingston School of Art while Green taught at Walthamstow School of Art and they both exhibited at the Royal Academy and New English Art Club. Tiring of the austerity and smog of post-war London they sought out life in the countryside. Initially they lived above a boat house in Littlehampton, on the Sussex coast, but soon moved to an ancient thatched cottage surrounded by run down gardens in Shelland, near Stowmarket, Suffolk (lots 166-168), which they lovingly restored. From there they set out on their frequent painting expeditions to the coastal communities of Southwold and Walberswick.
Untouched by heavy industry, the area represented a rural an idyll that was to become the central motif of Bulmer’s work. Popular since the 18th century as a destination for seawater swimming, and following in the footsteps of the painter Philip Wilson Steer (1860-1942), Bulmer was drawn to recording beach scenes and bathers (lot 160 & 169). Steer had made the East Coast his painting ground after returning from studying on the Continent and brought Impressionist painting to England. Bulmer’s pointillist style reflects both Steer's influence and also more directly that of the Neo-Impressionists, Georges Seurat (1859-1891) in particular.
LIONEL BULMER (BRITISH 1919-1992)
COUPLE BY A TERRACE
signed L.Bulmer lower right
oil on board
61 x 61cm; 24 x 24in
unframed
with the artist's estate number LB 781 on the reverse
Sold for £450
Lionel Bulmer (lots 158-169)
Introduction
Lionel Bulmer’s coastal views of summer on the Suffolk coast came to define his career. His impressionistic style was ideally suited to evoking the realism of a hot summers day on the sand dunes. The critic Ian Collins noted of Bulmer’s work: ‘the season appears to be one of permanent summer.’
The son of an architect, Bulmer's studies at Clapham School of Art were interrupted by being conscripted at the outbreak of the Second World War. On being de-mobbed he studied at the Royal College of Art, at that time relocated in Ambleside in the Lake District, where he met fellow artist and life partner to be Margaret Green. When the RCA returned to Kensington Bulmer and Green were taught by, among others, Ruskin Spear and Carel Weight. When Green received an RCA travel scholarship the couple embarked on a tour of discovery, painting their way through France and Italy for the best part of a year.
On their return to London they settled in Chelsea, Bulmer taught at Kingston School of Art while Green taught at Walthamstow School of Art and they both exhibited at the Royal Academy and New English Art Club. Tiring of the austerity and smog of post-war London they sought out life in the countryside. Initially they lived above a boat house in Littlehampton, on the Sussex coast, but soon moved to an ancient thatched cottage surrounded by run down gardens in Shelland, near Stowmarket, Suffolk (lots 166-168), which they lovingly restored. From there they set out on their frequent painting expeditions to the coastal communities of Southwold and Walberswick.
Untouched by heavy industry, the area represented a rural an idyll that was to become the central motif of Bulmer’s work. Popular since the 18th century as a destination for seawater swimming, and following in the footsteps of the painter Philip Wilson Steer (1860-1942), Bulmer was drawn to recording beach scenes and bathers (lot 160 & 169). Steer had made the East Coast his painting ground after returning from studying on the Continent and brought Impressionist painting to England. Bulmer’s pointillist style reflects both Steer's influence and also more directly that of the Neo-Impressionists, Georges Seurat (1859-1891) in particular.
LIONEL BULMER (BRITISH 1919-1992)
COUPLE BY A TERRACE
signed L.Bulmer lower right
oil on board
61 x 61cm; 24 x 24in
unframed
with the artist's estate number LB 781 on the reverse
Auction: From the Studio: Works from 17 Artists' Estates, 2nd Oct, 2024
This one-of-a-kind auction focuses on the redisovery of 20th century artists, many of whom exhibited in leading West End galleries in their day, their works featuring in museums and art galleries around the world. All now deceased, with many having suffered undeserved obscurity since, their inclusion in From the Studio: Works from Artists' Estates puts the spotlight firmly back on them, to reveal a range of extraordinarily talented men and women.
Most of the artists were admired, promoted and written about by eminent 20th century art critics. Several were Jewish emigres, forced from their homelands to find their way anew in Britain and elsewhere. Many were close friends with other leading contemporary artists, sharing studios and ideas; some taught, several at the Royal College of Art. Throughout, their efforts both individually and together chart the myriad movements and counter movements that define the dynamic 20th century modernist landscape, ranging from Impressionism to Abstraction.
Viewing Times:
29th Sep 2024 12:00 - 16:00
30th Sep 2024 10:00 - 20:00
01st Oct 2024 10:00 - 17:00
