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Presentation: Framed
SN: 2070
Signed and titled on the reverse
Oil on board, 18 3/4 x 28 in.
Send image Biography To be included in a
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Presentation: Framed
SN: 2081
Oil on paper,
16 x 13cm (23 x 20cm framed)

In a white gesso box frame

These abstracts form part of a series of small sketches made during World War II as preparation for larger works (materials being in short supply), which Stephenson then executed in the 1950s. They were stimulated by the devastation resulting from the bombing of London (also recorded figuratively by Stephenson during this period). Stephenson made his first abstract paintings around 1932. In 1934 he exhibited with the 7 & 5 Society, along with Ben and Winifred Nicholson, Ivon Hitchens, Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth and John Piper. Though not today as well known as many of his contemporaries he was one of the key figures in the development of abstract art in Britain in the mid twentieth century.
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Presentation: Framed
SN: 3186
Silkscreen and crayon
Signed and titled, Silk screen print by Kathleen Guthrie from a painting by Cecil Stephenson 1938, (same size). Original painting bought by Anthony D'Offay

11 7/8 x 9 7/8 in. (30 x 25 cm.) (image size)

Provenance: the Artist's family
Literature: A Poet's Eye, The Paintings of Kathlenen Guthrie, Jonathan Eastaway, Cartmel Press, 1999, p. 43

Issue in an edition of 14

Guthrie was one of the most gifted silk screen print makers of her generation. In what might be seen as a posthumous collaboration, either shortly before or after the death of her husband Cecil Stephenson, she reproduced, as silk screens, three of Stephensons iconic Abstracts from 1936, 1937 and 1938. Inspired by this experiment Guthrie embarked, in the late 1960's, on her Camelot prints, a series of bold hard edged abstract designs with pure fields of colour, often using daring combinations.
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forthcoming exhibition

Presentation: Framed
SN: 3648
Signed and dated with studio stamp
Oil on card, 14 x 9.5cm

These abstracts form part of a series of small sketches made during World War II as preparation for larger works (materials being in short supply), which Stephenson then executed in the 1950s. They were stimulated by the devastation resulting from the bombing of London (also recorded figuratively by Stephenson during this period). Stephenson made his first abstract paintings around 1932. In 1934 he exhibited with the 7 & 5 Society, along with Ben and Winifred Nicholson, Ivon Hitchens, Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth and John Piper. Though not today as well known as many of his contemporaries he was one of the key figures in the development of abstract art in Britain in the mid twentieth century.

In a wedge section white gesseod shadow box frame

Gouache on paper, 16 x 13cm (23 x 20cm framed)
These abstracts form part of a series of small sketches made during World War II as preparation for larger works (materials being in short supply), which Stephenson then executed in the 1950s. They were stimulated by the devastation resulting from the bombing of London (also recorded figuratively by Stephenson during this period). Stephenson made his first abstract paintings around 1932. In 1934 he exhibited with the 7 & 5 Society, along with Ben and Winifred Nicholson, Ivon Hitchens, Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth and John Piper. Though not today as well known as many of his contemporaries he was one of the key figures in the development of abstract art in Britain in the mid twentieth century.

Gouache on paper, 16 x 13cm (23 x 20cm framed)
These abstracts form part of a series of small sketches made during World War II as preparation for larger works (materials being in short supply), which Stephenson then executed in the 1950s. They were stimulated by the devastation resulting from the bombing of London (also recorded figuratively by Stephenson during this period). Stephenson made his first abstract paintings around 1932. In 1934 he exhibited with the 7 & 5 Society, along with Ben and Winifred Nicholson, Ivon Hitchens, Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth and John Piper. Though not today as well known as many of his contemporaries he was one of the key figures in the development of abstract art in Britain in the mid twentieth century.

Signed and dated with studio stamp
Oil on card, 14 x 9.5cm

These abstracts form part of a series of small sketches made during World War II as preparation for larger works (materials being in short supply), which Stephenson then executed in the 1950s. They were stimulated by the devastation resulting from the bombing of London (also recorded figuratively by Stephenson during this period). Stephenson made his first abstract paintings around 1932. In 1934 he exhibited with the 7 & 5 Society, along with Ben and Winifred Nicholson, Ivon Hitchens, Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth and John Piper. Though not today as well known as many of his contemporaries he was one of the key figures in the development of abstract art in Britain in the mid twentieth century.
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Presentation: Framed
SN: 2683
Oil on board. 36 x 28 inches. 91.5 x 71 cm
Signed, titled and dated verso
Exhibited: Camden Arts Centre, 1975; Gillian Jason Gallery, 1986
Literature: Simon Guthrie, John Cecil Stephenson, 1997, (15) illustrated p.140

Thumbnail panels:

Cecil Stephenson 1889-1965

Painter, born in Bishop Auckland, Co. Durham. He studied at Darlington Technical College, 1906-08, at the Leeds School of Art, 1908-14, the RCA, 1914-18, and Slade, 1918. Between 1915 and 1918 he did war work, making tools. In 1919 he took on Sickert's studio, 6 Mall Studios, Hampstead, where he was later joined by Herbert Read, Barbara Hepworth and Henry Moore. From 1922 until 1955 he was Head of Art Teaching in the Architectural Department, Northern Polytechnic, Holloway Road. In 1932 he began making his first abstract works, exhibiting during the next decade in many abstract and constructive shows in England, France and the USA. In 1934 he exhibited with the 7&5 Society, along with the likes of Ben and Winifred Nicholson, Ivon Hitchens, Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth and John Piper. During World War II he returned partly to figurative work, making paintings of the Blitz. From the 1950s he returned to large abstract paintings, realising many of the abstract compositions he had sketched out on a small scale in the previous decade, when materials had been in short supply. In 1951 he made a l0 ¥ 30 ft. fluorescent paint mural for the Festival of Britain, and began working with ply glass for murals. In 1958 he suffered three strokes, which left him unable to move or talk. Partly for this reason he is today less well-known than many of his contemporaries, but he was one of the key figures in the development of abstract art in Britain. He is represented in the collection of the Tate and internationally.

Selected Literature Cecil Stephenson 1889-1965, Fischer Fine Art, London, 1976.

Simon Guthrie, The Life and Art of John Cecil Stephenson: A Victorian Painter's Journey to Abstract Expressionism, Cartmel Press Associates, 1997.