CORNFIELD
pen and brush and brown ink over watercolour on paper water-marked Monckton Kent
27 x 36.5cm; 10 1/2 x 14 1/4in
40 x 48cm; 15 3/4 x 18 3/4in (framed)

Property of a Gentleman, London

Provenance:
Brian Sewell, London (journalist and art critic), acquired from the artist
Acquired from the above by the present owner circa 1990

Commenting recently on the present work Frances Spalding notes that 'Minton’s regular visits to Marshalls in Chart Sutton, to stay with Edie Lamont in the late 1940s, in a most beautiful part of Kent; his meeting with her nearby neighbour H.E.Bates, in connection with his rural illustrations for two of his books; as well as an awareness of an inherent conflict in himself between a desire to create 'painter’s' as well as make 'illustrators' drawings, makes this a possible work by him, albeit in an unfamiliar vein.’

Edie was a friend from Minton's St Johns Wood Art School days; twenty years Minton's senior she was married to Newton Lamont, a coal merchant. Her diaries from 1945 to 1954 record that Minton visited 'Marshalls' several times a year, returning to London from his trips with sheaves of drawings. 'He drew the nut grove in the Lamonts' garden and the surrounding countryside, especially the view over the Weald found within two minutes' walk from their house. With Edie, he made drawing expeditions to Little Chart Forstal, Frittenden and Tenterden. His Kent landscapes had contributed significantly to the success of his 1945 Roland, Browse and Delbanco exhibition...' (see: Frances Spalding, Dance Till the Stars Come Down, a Biography of John Minton, London, 1991, p. 127).