Lot 103
103
Vanessa Bell (1879-1961)
No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VA… Read more
Vanessa Bell (1879-1961)

Design for lorry bill for Shell B.P.: Alfriston

Details
Vanessa Bell (1879-1961)
Design for lorry bill for Shell B.P.: Alfriston
signed with initials and inscribed 'Poster Design VB' (on the reverse)
oil on paper
20¼ x 29½ in. (51.4 x 74.9 cm.)
Painted in 1930.
Provenance
The artist's estate.
with Anthony d'Offay, London, where purchased by Reader's Digest Association Inc. in January 1984.
Property from the Reader's Digest Association Inc.; Christie's, London, 19 November 2004, lot 46, where purchased by the present owner.
Literature
F. Spalding, Vanessa Bell, London, 1983, p. 259.
Exhibited
New York, Katonah Gallery, Bloomsbury Artists at Charleston: Paintings from the Reader's Digest Collection, August - October 1987, no. 1.
Johannesburg, Art Gallery, Bloomsbury Paintings at Charleston: Paintings from the Reader's Digest Corporate Collection, November 1992 - February 1993, no. 1.
Special notice
No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 15% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

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Lot Essay

This work was painted as a large lorry bill for Shell. Frances Spalding comments, 'Vanessa and Duncan were also two of the first artists to be employed by Jack Beddington when in 1929 he was put in charge of publicity by Shell-Mex Ltd. Duncan made St Ives bridge in Huntingdonshire his motif, while Vanessa chose Alfriston church in Sussex' (see F. Spalding, loc. cit.).

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