John Armstrong (British, 1893-1973)
Three feathers
signed with initials and dated 'JA/47' (lower left)
tempera on thick card
35.3 x 29.2 cm. (13 7/8 x 11 1/2 in.)
Footnotes:
Provenance
Kenneth Fleetwood, thence by descent to the present owner
Private Collection, U.K.

The present work is a recently discovered addition to Armstrong's catalogued oeuvre, and belongs to one of his most sought after and celebrated series.

Armstrong had found early acclaim throughout the 1920s and 1930s. Commercially, he staged successful exhibitions at the Leicester and Lefevre Galleries, and critically, he was amongst a small number selected to participate in the important Unit One exhibition of 1934.

Shortly after World War II, Armstrong moved to Lamorna, Cornwall. As his biographer Andrew Lambirth remarks, 'He did not associate with the St Ives school of abstraction local to him in Cornwall, but continued to plough his lonely furrow. In fact, this paid dividends, and this period was productive of an exceptionally high number of fine works. All the hypnotic post-war tempera leaf and feather paintings were made here' (Andrew Lambirth, John Armstrong, The Paintings, Philip Wilson, London, 2009, pp.85-86).

Several such fine works were exhibited at Lefevre Gallery in 1947, including a handful of jewel-toned compositions displaying anthropomorphic feathers (The Pink Feather, On the Promenade, Encounter and The Embrace of the Shadow). The strange and alluring beauty of this group of paintings, to which the present lot can now be added, prompted Sir John Rothenstein to state that 'Armstrong has never received the recognition due for these highly original works' (John Rothenstein, Modern English Painters, Volume Two: Nash to Bawden, Macdonald, London, 1984, p.155).

The present work was formerly in the collection of Kenneth Fleetwood, fashion designer and Director of Woman's Design at Hardy Amies Ltd from 1974. How this work entered the collection is not recorded but it is likely that Fleetwood would have been familiar with Armstrong due to the artist's own contribution to design (throughout the 1930s Armstrong held the position of Head of Costume at Alexander Korda's film studio).

We are grateful to Jonathan Gibbs for his assistance in cataloguing this lot.
This lot is subject to the following lot symbols: AR
AR Goods subject to Artists Resale Right Additional Premium.