PROPERTY FROM THE ESTATE OF HUGH CRONYN (LOTS 61-66)
HUGH CRONYN (1905-1996)
Jean Cronyn, the artist's wife
signed HUGH CRONYN (lower right)
oil on canvas, unframed
76 x 63.3 cm (30 x 24 3/4 in)

PROVENANCE:
Artist's estate

Painted circa 1948, the present work depicts Jean Cronyn (née Harris; 1919-2003), the artist’s wife, when the couple were living in West Sussex with their two daughters, close to fellow artists and friends Raymond and Gin Coxon. Jean had met Cronyn in 1941 at one of AP Herbert’s gatherings at the Black Lion. At the time, fresh out of Oxford, she was working for the Board of Trade, while Cronyn was on leave from the Navy; they married the following year. Jean later became secretary to AP Herbert at 12 Hammersmith Terrace. Following Cronyn’s appointment as Tutor of Painting at Colchester School of Art in 1949 they moved to Suffolk. On the left of the composition is an early dish by the studio potter Michael Cardew (1901-83).