Benjamin II Vautier

Posing Lady by Benjamin II Vautier - Graphite on Paper - 22x19 cm

Benjamin II Vautier (1895–1974) was a Swiss-born artist, known for his contributions to both painting and graphic art. He was born into a family with artistic roots, as the son of Ot...

Benjamin II Vautier (1895–1974) was a Swiss-born artist, known for his contributions to both painting and graphic art. He was born into a family with artistic roots, as the son of Ot...

Benjamin II Vautier (1895–1974) was a Swiss-born artist, known for his contributions to both painting and graphic art. He was born into a family with artistic roots, as the son of Ot...

Benjamin II Vautier (1895–1974) was a Swiss-born artist, known for his contributions to both painting and graphic art. He was born into a family with artistic roots, as the son of Ot...

A strong portrait, and a piece of history. It was confidently sketched in 1923, during the heyday of the "Lost Generation" in Paris, at the Closerie des Lilas - Ernest Hemingway's favourite haunt and home-from-home in the City. This historical café is where Hemingway first read The Great Gatsby with his friend F. Scott Fitzgerald and where he wrote most of The Sun Also Rises...

Graphite on paper, signed and dated Image size: 18 x 12 1/2 inches (46 x 32 cm) Mounted and framed The sitter for this portrait, Alfred Hardiman, was an English sculptor. Hardiman and Lyon were friends and met when they both attended the British School at Rome in the early 1920s. Hardiman won a London County Council Scholarship to the Royal College of Art in 1912, and three years later joined the Royal Academy School. After a period as an engineer's draughtsman in the Royal Flying Corps during the First World War, Hardiman resumed his studies and in 1920 was awarded the British Prix de Rome scholarship, spending two years at the British School at Rome. There he developed his style, a blend of naturalism and classicism influenced by Roman and Etruscan art and early fifth century Greek sculpture. Hardiman's best-known (but also most controversial) work is the Earl Haig Memorial on Whitehall in London. More universally admired are the heraldic lions flanking the main entrance to the City Hall, Norwich, a work which fully epitomises his style. He was appointed consultant sculptor to the building, having worked with one of the architects, Stephen Rowland Pierce, on the Haig Memorial. Hardiman also carved three large stone figures for the outside of the council chamber, and worked with other sculptors on the project including James Woodford and Eric Aumonier. Hardiman was elected Associate of the Royal Academy in 1936 and a full Academician in 1944. He became a fellow of the Royal Society of British Sculptors in 1938 and the following year received their silver medal for his statue of Haig. In 1946 he won a gold medal for his bronze fountain figure for the New Council House, College Green, Bristol, which however was never erected. In 1918 he married Violet, daughter of Herbert Clifton White, of London, and had two daughters. He died at Stoke Poges on 17th April 1949. Robert Lyon...

Signed lower right, 'V. Conroy' for Virginia Conroy (American, 1922-2006) and dated 1985. Exhibited: Carmel Art Association, 1983 (on original backing...

The postman's delivery of a limp cactus creates a big emotional response the female recipient. Most likely an interior illustration for a newsstand magazine. Signed lower right Sus...