2nd Oct, 2024 14:00
From the Studio: Works from 17 Artists' Estates
115
⊕ LESLIE MARR (BRITISH 1922-2021)
Leslie Marr (lots 115-126)
Introduction
Marr was born in Durham into a family of engineers and shipbuilders and studied Engineering at Cambridge. But while with the RAF in the Middle East during the Second World War he began to paint. Short on supplies, he procured some brushes and paint and purportedly used his kit bag as canvas to depict the landscape around him.
On his return to London he enrolled in art school in Pimlico. But uninspired by the conventional approach offered, a chance encounter with David Bomberg’s stepdaughter, Dinora Mendelsohn, led Marr to seek the more vivacious and anything but ‘run-of-the-mill’ teaching style that Bomberg espoused at Borough Polytechnic in South London.
Bomberg’s innovative non-academic approach to painting centred around discovering what he called ‘the spirit of the mass’. It was a method that had been fuelled by his pre-War painting expeditions to far flung and isolated destinations: the rugged landscapes of Palestine, the volcanic gorges of Ronda in Spain, and the mountains of Cyprus. And his ideas had a profound influence on a number of his students, Leon Kossoff (1926-2019) and Frank Auerbach (b.1931) amongst them, as well as Marr himself. Bomberg’s non-conventional style spawned The Borough Group, founded in 1946 by Cliff Holden (1926 -2020). Among its members were Bomberg himself, his wife Lillian Holt (1898-1983), Dinora Mendelson (1924-2010), Dorothy Mead (1928-1975), Edna Mann (1926-1985), Miles Peter Richmond (1922-2008), Dennis Creffield (1931-2018) and Marr.
After marrying in 1946, Marr and Dinora travelled to Cyprus with Bomberg. Painting there together Marr’s work flourished, and he would later describe his time in Greece as the point at which he achieved the ‘enlightened’ state. But with the break-up of the Group in 1950 Marr turned to other interests, including as a photographer, film maker and Formula 1 driver before returning to painting after Bomberg’s death in 1957.
Re-connecting with Bomberg’s original approach, Marr travelled far and wide to seek out wild and isolated landscapes - as far afield as New Zealand - and used extreme contrasts and thrusting diagonals to depict untamed Nature. In the present sale these wild landscapes include views across the Scottish Highlands (lots 118, 119 & 123), the Western Isles (lot 117, 120 & 121), mountains in Spain (lots 124 & 125), and his brooding canvas of Mont Saint Victoire in the South of France, his tribute to Cézanne. Another influence was Chaim Soutine, whose distinctive style permeates much of Marr's later output.
LESLIE MARR (BRITISH 1922-2021)
SELF-PORTRAIT
signed Marr lower left; inscribed Self P. and LESLIE on the overlap
oil on canvas
56 x 40.5cm; 22 x 16in
unframed
Painted in 1962.
Sold for £200
Leslie Marr (lots 115-126)
Introduction
Marr was born in Durham into a family of engineers and shipbuilders and studied Engineering at Cambridge. But while with the RAF in the Middle East during the Second World War he began to paint. Short on supplies, he procured some brushes and paint and purportedly used his kit bag as canvas to depict the landscape around him.
On his return to London he enrolled in art school in Pimlico. But uninspired by the conventional approach offered, a chance encounter with David Bomberg’s stepdaughter, Dinora Mendelsohn, led Marr to seek the more vivacious and anything but ‘run-of-the-mill’ teaching style that Bomberg espoused at Borough Polytechnic in South London.
Bomberg’s innovative non-academic approach to painting centred around discovering what he called ‘the spirit of the mass’. It was a method that had been fuelled by his pre-War painting expeditions to far flung and isolated destinations: the rugged landscapes of Palestine, the volcanic gorges of Ronda in Spain, and the mountains of Cyprus. And his ideas had a profound influence on a number of his students, Leon Kossoff (1926-2019) and Frank Auerbach (b.1931) amongst them, as well as Marr himself. Bomberg’s non-conventional style spawned The Borough Group, founded in 1946 by Cliff Holden (1926 -2020). Among its members were Bomberg himself, his wife Lillian Holt (1898-1983), Dinora Mendelson (1924-2010), Dorothy Mead (1928-1975), Edna Mann (1926-1985), Miles Peter Richmond (1922-2008), Dennis Creffield (1931-2018) and Marr.
After marrying in 1946, Marr and Dinora travelled to Cyprus with Bomberg. Painting there together Marr’s work flourished, and he would later describe his time in Greece as the point at which he achieved the ‘enlightened’ state. But with the break-up of the Group in 1950 Marr turned to other interests, including as a photographer, film maker and Formula 1 driver before returning to painting after Bomberg’s death in 1957.
Re-connecting with Bomberg’s original approach, Marr travelled far and wide to seek out wild and isolated landscapes - as far afield as New Zealand - and used extreme contrasts and thrusting diagonals to depict untamed Nature. In the present sale these wild landscapes include views across the Scottish Highlands (lots 118, 119 & 123), the Western Isles (lot 117, 120 & 121), mountains in Spain (lots 124 & 125), and his brooding canvas of Mont Saint Victoire in the South of France, his tribute to Cézanne. Another influence was Chaim Soutine, whose distinctive style permeates much of Marr's later output.
LESLIE MARR (BRITISH 1922-2021)
SELF-PORTRAIT
signed Marr lower left; inscribed Self P. and LESLIE on the overlap
oil on canvas
56 x 40.5cm; 22 x 16in
unframed
Painted in 1962.
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
