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Derek Carruthers
Surrealist Gouache and Watercolour on Paper, The Three Graces

About the Item

Late 20th century surrealist gouache and watercolour on paper of The Three Graces by British artist Derek Carruthers. The painting is signed to the bottom right. An imposing and highly colourful painting of three heroic Graeco-Roman female figures in a classical pose in silhouette, back-lit by the moon. The remains of a temple are seen in the distance whilst in juxtaposition nature in great abundance flourishes at the feet of the three figures. In Greek mythology, the Charites, or Graces, were three or more goddesses of charm, beauty, nature, human creativity, goodwill, and fertility. Hesiod names three – Aglaea ("Shining"), Euphrosyne ("Joy"), and Thalia ("Blooming") In Roman mythology they were known as the Gratiae, the "Graces". Carruthers often loved to use strong imagery to pose questions and to challenge the viewer. Is this a commentary on the passing of time and the rise and fall of civilisations? The ruins of a once great civilisation are now pale and distant, the three figures have become faceless in their silhouette in a pose almost comforting eachother whilst nature goes on and surpasses us all. A beautiful, thought provoking painting. Carruthers likes to challenge our human perspective of what is normal. Using his constructivist approach to interlink art and architecture he takes images out of context or changes their relationship to each other either by manipulating size, juxtaposing images from different periods of time or by contrasting a beautiful background with its political or social meaning. Derek Carruthers was an artist who persisted in asking questions. His whole career was inspired by the determination to enquire into the nature of art, examine its purpose, and attempt to explore that place where the individual life of the mind meets the external appearance of the world where personal sensation rubs up against cultural assumptions. Not surprisingly, Carruthers explored, over the years, a language of pure form, abstract space, 2 and 3 dimensions, narrative and concept, personal and universal figuration. Looking back, over decades of work, however, each of these voices is pursuing a coherent set of questions, reflecting on the stuff of human experience. Carruthuers’ individual pieces can intrigue and charm, they can be warm and poetic and they can also offer gritty resistance to the easy gaze. They can challenge us to think about ourselves, our environment, our expectations, our place in the world. Carruthers grew up in the north-west of England having been born in Penrith, and one of his earliest memories of what art might be was formed by his encounter with the extraordinary creations of Kurt Schwitters. The latter had fled Germany in 1937, after his art had been labelled ‘degenerate’. He stayed, first, in Norway and then arrived in Britain in 1940. Carruthers had already encountered Schwitters' work as a boy, and had been launched on his own life-long examination of the nature of art. Carruthers was further inspired by Victor Pasmore and Hamilton (British Constructivists) who were working closely together at King’s College London and eventually offered a challenging course to all first year students. Thus, Carruthers – who was at King’s in 1953 to 1957 was encouraged to take a rigorous approach to probing abstraction, spatial relationships, and the interlinking of art and architecture. Having had the good fortune to have been an art student at such a time and in such a place, it is not surprising that Carruthers embarked on a voyage of artistic discovery. He showed his works with the major touring exhibition, organised by the Arts Council, in 1963, ‘Construction England’, together with Pasmore and Mary and Kenneth Martin. His work was also included in exhibitions of new art at the Drian Galleries, Porchester Place, in 1963 to 1965. Reflecting the more recent re-examination of post-War, British Constructivism, Carruthers’ work was also included in the 1992 show, ‘British Abstract Art of the 50s and 60s’, held at the Belgrave Gallery. This early work, in which solid or relief forms change their nature as they – or the viewers – move through space and time, deliberately challenges the human tendency to find comfort in regarding the world as fixed and knowable. In these years, too, Carruthers taught at Sunderland and Leicester Colleges of Art, before moving to lead the Fine Art course, as a Professor, at Trent Polytechnic (now the Nottingham Trent University). He was a dedicated educator, leaving to pursue his own art, full time, only in the mid 1980s. Inspired, perhaps, by this freedom, the 1980s saw Carruthers exploring new ideas. He turned from working in 3-dimensions, or collage and relief, and rediscovered the power of traditional materials, oil and watercolour, on canvas and paper. He moved away from Non-Objectivity towards a practice which explored both abstracted and figurative imagery. Throughout, he remained preoccupied with exploring the human condition: by this trite remark, we mean that he continued to question how each individual experiences the world; he explored the ways in which human beings create totems to make their mark, as if to claim immortality; he tries to, ‘symbolise the triangular relationship between humankind and religion and the art / architecture which it inspires’. Hence - as well as warm glimpses of holidays and home life - his work yields the Egyptian pyramid, the Graeco-Roman heroic figure, the Christian monument; and, ultimately, the ‘sexless, ageless, raceless anonymity’ of the artist’s lay figure. Derek Carruthers continued to ask questions, both about his life in a particular time and place, and about the lot of the human being on a universal scale. As an artist and a scholar, he saw himself at the intersection of these challenging states. And he makes you think........
  • Creator:
    Derek Carruthers
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 30.12 in (76.5 cm)Width: 22.25 in (56.5 cm)Depth: 0.04 in (1 mm)
  • Medium:
    Watercolor,Paper,Gouache
  • Movement & Style:
    Surrealist
  • Period:
    Late 20th Century
  • Condition:
    The bottom left margin of the paper is torn but has been taped and this does not encroach onto the image and will not show when framed (see photo).
  • Gallery Location:
    Cotignac, FR
  • Reference Number:
    Seller: GB/Carruthers/TheThreeGraces.1stDibs: LU1430214351932
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