Philip Alexius de László (1869-1937) was a leading portrait painter in England during the first third of the 20th century. His Wikipedia entry is
here. I wrote about him
here in 2010 and, more recenty,
here.
Quite a few of his portraits are not "finished" in that they seem incomplete or sketchy. Some indeed might have been literally unfinished. But others might have intentionally appeared like that because they are signed. Which is why I titled this post László's Casual Portraits.
Some of such works are presented below.
Gallery
Arthur James Balfour, 1st Earl of Balfour
Former British Prime Minister.
Countess Beatty, née Ethel Field - wife of Admiral David Beatty - 1911
She was very rich and he became famous for his battlecruiser service during the Great War.
Ivy Gordon-Lennox, later Duchess of Portland - 1915
This might be unfinished because I don't notice his signature.
Duchess of York - sketch
Later she became the Queen Mum.
Edwina Mountbatten - 1924
Elinor Glyn - 1927
Gwen Ffrangcon-Davies - 1933
An actress who posed for this painting-demonstration portrait.
Marie of Romania
Prince Louis of Battenberg - c.1913
First Sea Lord before the Great War.
Princess Marina of Greece - 1934
Princess Ruspoli, Duchess de Gramont - 1922
Viscountess Chaplin, née Hon. Gwladys Wilson - 1915
It probably didn't matter if the sketchy background was simply unfinished or if it was intentional. When comparing Princess Andrew of Greece (1907), for example, the paintings in today's post look as if de László was ensuring that our attention was paid to each face.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if the Queen Mum (before her marriage) really did show half her body like that :)