PROPERTY FROM THE ESTATE OF KATHARINE 'KITTY' CHURCH (LOTS 15-42)
KATHARINE 'KITTY' CHURCH (1910-1999)
Self portrait
signed and dated 94/Katharine Church (lower right)
oil on board
58.5 x 43 cm (23 x 17 in)
Painted in 1994

LITERATURE:
J.Duncalfe, Katharine Church: A life in colour, The later years, Harrogate, 2015, 234, 273, illustrated

PROPERTY FROM THE ESTATE OF KATHARINE 'KITTY' CHURCH (LOTS 15-42)

‘In the early days when I first knew her, she had already discovered the personal style, dashing, generous, linear with homage to Cezanne and perhaps Van Gogh, that she maintained in her painting life.’ John Piper

In her obituary in the Times (21 August 1999) Katharine ‘Kitty’ Church’s painting style was described as: ‘calm, colourful, decorative, unmistakably English, changed little in seventy years. She moved in Bohemian and Bloomsbury circles.’ The fauve-rich palette of her work is defined by the strong free-handling of her brushstrokes. Subjects vary from oil portraiture and landscapes, through to subtle, delicately transparent watercolours of landscapes and still lifes. Lots 15-42 offer an exciting insight into Church’s painterly range and showcase the artistic exchange between her and her fellow artist friends.

Born in Highgate, north London, Katharine Church, known as ‘Kitty’ amongst friends and family, always wanted to paint. She trained at the Royal Academy of Arts between 1930-1933 and at the Slade between 1933 and 1934. In her early years Kitty exhibited regularly at the Royal Academy. Her first solo exhibition was in 1933 at the Wertheim Gallery. Other artists who exhibited there included Christopher Wood, Victor Pasmore and Cedric Morris. Kitty also showed with the New English Art Club, the London Group and between 1937-1947 her work was exhibited at the influential Lefevre Gallery, which supported avant-garde artists such as Henry Moore, Ben Nicholson and Barbara Hepworth. In 1954 the artist was invited to take part in the Figures in their setting exhibition held at the Tate Gallery.

Henry Tonks and Philip Wilson Steer had a strong influence on Kitty’s early work, but it was her friendship with Ivon Hitchens that liberated her painting technique. She recalled: ‘this was one of life’s magic and iconic moments for me, Ivon really helped me to loosen up and face the world’ (See J. Duncalfe, Katharine Church: A life in colour, The later years, Harrogate, 2015, p. 25)

In 1936 Kitty married Anthony West, the son of writers Rebecca West and H.G. Wells. The couple initially lived in London before moving to Quarry Farm, Chicksgrove, Tisbury, near Salisbury, where they brought up their children Caroline and Edmund. There they hosted many of their friends, including the New Zealand painter Frances Hodgkins. Still life with fruits (lot 30) is one of many works Hodgkins dedicated to the Kitty and Anthony. Other regular visitors before the War included John and Mywafany Piper, Ralph and Frances Partridge, Noel and Catharine Carrington, Julian Trevelyan and Mary Fedden. For many of those who visited Kitty would organise painting expeditions. After the war Kitty and Anthony separated, with Anthony moving to the United States to work as a journalist.

In the 1960s Kitty purchased Sutton House and ran the Hambledon Gallery at Blandford Forum. There she promoted the work of her early art-school friends Mary Fedden and Julian Trevelyan, alongside work by the Pipers, John Craxton, Leonard Rosoman, Keith Vaughan, Mary Potter and Cecil Beaton; she also supported a wide range of local artists. Paying tribute to the success of the venture, Padraig Macmiadhachain commented: ‘under Kitty West, the Hambledon was then the one and only Gallery in Dorset of any worth.’ (see: Vivienne Light: Circles and Tangents, Canterton Books, 2011, p. 64).

While busying herself at the gallery Kitty never stopped painting. In the 80s her work was included in the exhibition John Piper and British New-Romantics at the National Museum of Wales. In 1988 John Duncalfe arranged a retrospective of her work at his gallery in Harrogate and was key in arranging her participation in the Harrogate International Festival in 1990. Kitty’s zest for painting and art never ceased and she remained active even in her later years.

Painted at the age of 84, this is the last self-portrait Kitty Church completed. The bold colour palette and rigorous brushstrokes have captured the essence of the artist's energetic approach to painting and life in general.

‘I can honestly say, that for me the last twenty yeas have been the most enjoyable, the trials and tribulations of ones early life; becoming established, marriage, children, the struggle during the war, all now over… One does worry about becoming old, however contentment is the answer to the question. ‘The time has flown by?’..Then.. the Retrospective exhibition in Harrogate in 1988, being invited back in the 1990 as part of the Harrogate International Festival.. There, once again, my life was in colour, during my later years, which I hope will continue until the end. ‘

Kitty Church in a letter to John Duncalfe (J. Duncalfe, Katharine Church: A life in colour, The later years, Harrogate, 2015, p.13.)

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