JOHN ARMSTRONG, A.R.A. (1893-1973)
Pain Eluded
signed and dated John Armstrong 54 (lower right)
oil on canvas
61 x 91.4 cm (24 x 36 in)

PROVENANCE:
Sale, Sotheby’s, London, 12 November 1975, lot 28
Professor Peter and Joanna Krohn
Sale, Bonhams, London, 17 November 2015, lot 173, where purchased by the present owner

LITERATURE:
A. Lambirth (ed.), John Armstrong; The Paintings, London, 2009, p. 204, no. 481

Born in Sussex, the third son of a clergyman, John Armstrong A.R.A. (1893-1973) was an artist with varied and often surrealist outputs. Initially embarking on studying Law at St. John’s College, Oxford, Armstrong later decided to switch to art, at which point he became a student at St John’s Wood Art School.

Armstrong’s oeuvre is predominantly categorised in terms of his early painting in tempera, and his subsequent later work in oil. Appling oils in separated touches with a square-headed Courbet brush, Armstrong developed a strong divisionist style of painting in his work. Dabs of colour bring a textural animation to the picture surface with patches of paint laid down equably on a darker surface. Adapted from his techniques in tempera painting, he was very methodical in his production of oil paintings.

During World War Two, Armstrong worked as an official war artist undertaking short contracts for the War Artist's Advisory Committee, WAAC. In the ten years proceeding the war Armstrong isolated himself in Cornwall, though making occasional trips to London on a monthly basis. In his isolation,he was cut off from the hub of the English art world. Choosing not to associate with the St Ives School of Abstraction local to him in Cornwall, Armstrong continued to plough his lonely furrow. It has been suggested that Pain Eluded was commissioned for a chapel in the West Country, thought to be for a ceiling. Armstrong painted two versions of this picture, of which this is the larger. This subject was created in 1954, months before he decided to leave his Cornwall years for good.

When the artist considered a particular subject important, he painted smaller versions of the composition. The smaller version of Pain Eluded was exhibited in
London, Royal Academy, John Armstrong, February - April 1975, no. 120, this exhibition travelled to Plymouth, City Museum and Art Gallery, May - June; Preston Harris Museum And Art Gallery, June - July; Newcastle upon Tyne, August 1975 and was previously in the collection of E. Weston.

We are grateful to Mr Jonathan Gibbs for the assistance with the cataloguing of this lot.