Lot Essay
Sheila Charles' first exhibition 'The Youngest of the Moderns' at Walter Bull & Saunders, Cork Street in April 1932 was a critical success. The artist was just thirteen and critics such as P.G. Konody reviewed the exhibition of thirty-one works as 'Pictures full of Joy - and Talent ...one could naturally not expect one so young to be in full possession of technical perfection; yet even at this early stage of Miss Charles' artistic career it is interesting to ascertain the progress she has already made during so short a lapse of time in the management of paint ... her more recent works already possess definite pictorial qualities and prove that she is rapidly growing more and more at home with her medium' (The Daily Mail, 21 April 1932).
A second exhibition followed in May 1933 which prompted comparisons with Marie Laurencin and Henri Matisse and the Morning Post (4 May 1933) commented that 'she goes further than either in variety of subject and movement, and, when she has greater command of structure, her audacious dancers will gain agility and grace. Her colour is nearly always harmonious, and her themes are mainly joyous in spirit'.
A second exhibition followed in May 1933 which prompted comparisons with Marie Laurencin and Henri Matisse and the Morning Post (4 May 1933) commented that 'she goes further than either in variety of subject and movement, and, when she has greater command of structure, her audacious dancers will gain agility and grace. Her colour is nearly always harmonious, and her themes are mainly joyous in spirit'.