Alan and Barbara Rawsthorne
About this artwork
This painting is one of a series based on the artist’s husband, composer Alan Rawsthorne, and his sister Barbara. The siblings are evoked in a spectral manner, their faces dissolving into the void-like grey background. Rawsthorne often captured ‘the idea of the fleeting, the transitory’ in her work, suggesting the human body’s potential for distortion and fragility. The composition's doubling effect suggests the influence of mirrored ballet rehearsal rooms, where she often drew dancers’ bodies in motion.
Updated before 2020
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artist:Isabel Rawsthorne (1912 - 1992) British
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title:Alan and Barbara Rawsthorne
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date created:1966
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materials:Oil on canvas
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measurements:82.00 x 66.00 cm; Framed: 88.20 x 72.70 x 7.30 cm / 14.00 kg
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object type:
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credit line:Donated in memory of Warwick Llewellyn Nicholas, 2017
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accession number:GMA 5568
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gallery:
Isabel Rawsthorne
Isabel Rawsthorne
Isabel Rawsthorne was an English painter and designer. Raised in Liverpool, she studied at Liverpool College of Art before moving to London to study for a brief stint at the Royal Academy. In 1934 she moved to Paris where she became a prominent figure of the bohemian arts scene, befriending and...