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Lot #10 - Frederick Vincent Ellis

  • Auction House:
    Mossgreen-Webb's
  • Sale Name:
    The Peter Jarvis & Helene Phillips Collection
  • Sale Date:
    30 Nov 2017 ~ 6.30pm (New Zealand Daylight Time)
  • Lot #:
    10
  • Lot Description:
    Frederick Vincent Ellis
    Second Lieutenant John Holmwood
    oil on board, 1943
    645mm x 555mm
    signed F.V.Ellis and dated '43 in brushpoint upper left; signed F.V.ELLIS A.R.C.A, inscribed 2nd LEIUT JOHN HOLMWOOD verso
  • Provenance:
    Purchased from the Holmwood family, August 2007.
  • Notes:
    ESSAY: This portrait, by Frederick Ellis, of Second Lieutenant John Holmwood at the age of 33 is refreshingly real and informal for a military portrait. The reflective gaze and the uncertainty about the future that is conveyed in his brown eyes, combined with the light falling on his face and hands, have been executed sensitively and expertly by Ellis. The young man, in his military jacket and green tie, was home on leave from serving in Tonga and Fiji during World War II and was well known to the artist. The pair had worked together as commercial designers at New Zealand Railway Publicity Studios in Wellington in the late 1920s. Ellis was 17 years older than was Holmwood and a chief designer while the younger of the two was cutting his teeth as an apprentice. The collegial friendship remained throughout their working lives.
  • Estimate:
    NZ$2,500 - 3,500
  • Realised Price:
    *****

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  • Category:
    Art

This Sale has been held and this item is no longer available. Details are provided for information purposes only.



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