James Stroudley

Mending, Graphite Portrait, 20th Century Modern British, Signed Artwork

Graphite on paper, signed bottom right Image size: 13 x 8 3/4 inches (33 x 22.25 cm) Original frame Dora Thacher Clarke, later Dora Middleton, (1895–1989) was a British sculptor and wood carver who also wrote about, and promoted African art. Clarke was born in Harrow in Middlesex. Her father, Joseph Thacher Clarke was an American architect. Clarke won a scholarship that allowed her to attend the Slade School of Fine Art. Aged fifteen, Clarke initially studied at the Slade on a part-time basis for three days each week throughout 1910 and 1911 but during 1915 and 1916 she studied sculpture there as a full-time student. Clarke first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1923 and continued to do so until 1959. In the early 1930s she was a regular exhibitor in group shows at the Goupil Gallery and in March 1937 had her first solo show at the French Gallery. She also exhibited at the Paris Salon and with the Royal Society of British Artists. Clarke's works included bronze castings, memorials and wood sculptures, often of African heads. For example she was commissioned to sculpt the posthumous portrait bust of Sir Walter Morley Fletcher. The most notable of her memorials is the panel and medallion tribute to Joseph Conrad at Bishopsbourne in Kent, which was unveiled in 1927. Clarke also wrote about, and promoted African art and spent a year, between 1927 and 1928 in Kenya, where she made many drawings which when she returned to London she used as the basis for wood carvings and bronzes of tribal figures. Wood carving became her technique of choice, often working with hardwoods and, on occasion, sperm whale teeth. Clarke married Admiral Gervase B Middleton in 1938 but rarely exhibited work under her married name. During World War II, Clarke was commissioned by the War Artists' Advisory Committee to produce a portrait medallion depicting a serviceman who had been awarded the George Cross. This proved to be the only portrait medallion acquired for the WAAC collection. Sculptures by Clarke are held in various museums, including the Ashmolean Museum which also holds a 1936 portrait of her by Orovida Camille Pissarro.

Graphite on paper Image size: 5 1/2 x 20 1/2 inches (14 x 52 cm) Framed This sketch is a portrait of Thomas Gotch is by his lifelong friend and confidante, Jane Ross, whom he met at...

Graphite on paper, initialled and dated 1960 Image size: 8 x 6 inches (20 x 15 cm) Handmade frame

Pastel on paper Image size: 13 x 17 1/2 inches (33 x 44.5 cm) Mounted and framed This original pastel drawing by Thomas Frye is a half-length portrait of a man dressed in a turban. This drawing is the original sketch for one of the heads depicted in Frye's collection 'Twelve Mezzotint Prints' of 1760 and it can be assumed that this pastel work was created earlier of this same year. Two versions of the print, created from this original work, are currently held in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Frye's evocative figures, although presumably based on living models, exceed the conventions of portraiture, and also function as character studies. The man shown here - dressed in the fashionable 'Turkish' manner - turns with parted lips as if poised to speak, while raising the elegant fingers in one hand in a rhetorical gesture. His long eyelashes and smoothly rendered wrinkles and dimples are hallmarks of Frye's refined style. The Artist Thomas Frye (c. 1710 – 3 April 1762) was an Anglo-Irish artist, best known for his portraits in oil and pastel, including some miniatures and his early mezzotint engravings. He was also the patentee of the Bow porcelain factory, London, and claimed in his epitaph to be "the inventor and first manufacturer of porcelain in England," though his rivals at the Chelsea porcelain factory seem to have preceded him in bringing wares to market. The Bow porcelain works did not long survive Frye's death; their final auctions took place in May 1764. Frye was born at Edenderry, County Offaly, Ireland, in 1710; in his youth he went to London to practice as an artist. His earliest works are a pair of pastel portraits of boys...

Oil on canvas Image size: 16 x 20 inches (40.5 x 51 cm) This portrait is painted in an impressionist palette and is likely to have been created by Caroline Hutchinson circa 1955. It...

Graphite on paper, monogrammed lower left Image size: 6 x 6 1/2 inches (15.25 x 16.5 cm) Contemporary style handmade gilt frame Henry Perronet Briggs Henry Perronet Briggs RA wa...

This exquisite early 19th-century drawing depicts a demure young lady wearing a dress with voluminous ‘gigot’ sleeves, necklace and elaborate bonnet. It’s...

Walter Richard Sickert RA RBA (British, 1860-1942) Portrait of Maurice Villain pencil on paper indistinctly inscribed and signed `Maurice Villain …...

This fine portrait by British artist William Moore (1790-1851) depicts a young man holding a book. He’s wearing a white shirt, black necktie, waistcoat and unbuttoned frock coat. During the...

This exquisite portrait by British artist William Moore (1790-1851) depicts a young lady wearing a beautiful white dress with gigot sleeves. It’s a gentl...

This is an engaging work with masterful detail that will unfold for an intent viewer, particularly in the area of the figure's well-worn hands, and her traditional clothing. The image depicts a Bavarian woman deep in thought while winding a skein of wool. She is seated outside of her home, where she has brought her yarn swift...

A study in red chalk of a girl sitting and reading a book. Red chalk on paper under glass in a giltwood and gesso frame. This small drawing has a sense of intimacy in the capturing of a moment where the sitter is seemingly unaware of being observed, unlike the feeling of formailty and self-awareness in a staged portrait sitting Provenance: Private collection, Somerset With J. Davey & Sons Ltd, Liverpool William Hoare...