May 2024 – Toovey’s Blog

Still Life in Britain at Pallant House

Eric Ravilious’ Ironbridge Interior, 1941, © Towner, Eastbourne

A rather wonderful exhibition has just opened at Pallant House Gallery in Chichester which explores the place of the Still Life in the procession of British art with a particular emphasis on the 20th century and the contemporary. The Still Life was introduced to England in the 17th century by the Dutch. Ever since artists have used the genre to explore and experiment.

The show is arranged chronologically with works from the 17th century to the present day and cleverly traces the progression of British art from realism and post-impressionism through the major art movements of the 20th and 21st centuries. In the first room Ethel Walker’s ravishing Flower Piece No.4 keeps company with paintings by Ivon Hitchens, Harold Gilman, the Scottish Colourists and a delicate interior scene by the Sussex artist Eric Ravilious titled Ironbridge Interior. I’ve often reflected that an English Country House interior is made up of a series of Still Lifes formed of eclectic, arranged objects, art and furniture. Here Ravilious paints the restrained interior with his customary use of light. The hatching, shadows, tone and colour on the chair, wall and flower filled jug lending life to the stillness of this scene. The composition cleverly creates a layered perspective leading the viewer’s eye through the room to the window and landscape beyond.

Ben Nicholson’s oil St Ives, Cornwall (detail) © Tate

Ben Nicholson’s beautiful Still Life, St Ives, Cornwall, painted in 1943-45, depicts a large white mug on a curtained windowsill which, like Ravilious’ interior, draws the eye to the landscape through the window where toy-like, traditional fishing boats nestle against the backdrop of sea and sky. The Union Jack wouldn’t look out of place on a seaside sandcastle. There is an innocence to the scene which contrasts with the experience of war. 17th century Still Lifes are often filled with allegory. The Nazis considered modernist art to be degenerate so the painting’s modernism is an allegory in itself which provides a very British, understated voice speaking eloquently and powerfully of peace and innocence in reaction to the violence of Nazism.

Director of Pallant House Gallery, Simon Martin, has described this season’s series of exhibitions as “…an artistic journey that transcends time and borders and invites you to explore the intersections of tradition and innovation.”

This exhibition shows us how the genre of Still Life has constantly evolved reflecting our changing society and the themes of love, loss, beauty, decay and consumerism. The Shape of Things: Still Life in Britain is a stunning exhibition, eloquent and beautiful. You really must see it.

The Important English Artist and Modernist Paul Nash

An illustration from Genesis by Paul Nash – ‘Let us make man in our image’

Private Press books published in the 20th century were often illustrated by leading British artists. Many of these are printed in signed limited editions like the volume Genesis illustrated by Paul Nash.

In the 20th century many artists rediscovered their role as artisan artists and designers, as well as painters and sculptors of fine art. One of the ways that they this expressed this was through making printed woodblock illustrations for fine books produced by Private Presses.

Paul Nash is often thought of as an essentially English artist but between the wars he also sought to champion the hope embodied in continental modernism defending Picasso and experimenting with abstraction before embracing Surrealism and founding Unit One with Ben Nicholson, Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth and Ivon Hitchens.

He served as a soldier in the trenches of the Great War and became an important war artist on the Western Front between 1917 and 1918 and again during the Second World War.

In 1920, the Society of Wood Engravers was formed and Nash joined. The twelve stark monochromatic illustrations for Genesis illustrates Nash’s move towards modernism and semi-abstraction for a period. The influences of Vorticism and Cubism are apparent in the dynamic sense of movement and the fragmented space he creates in these images. The figures have an ethereal quality. This technique, combined with his unerring and poetic eye, seeds drama in our imaginations and allows us to glimpse something beyond our immediate perception of the world.

Genesis with Twelve Woodcuts by Paul Nash, circa 1924

Genesis was produced for the Nonsuch Press by the Curwen Press in 1924 in a limited edition of 375 copies. The dramatic text is in Rudolf Koch’s Neuland type. This copy lacked its orange, paper dust jacket and despite some issues of condition it realised £800 in a Toovey’s specialist book sale.

Paul Nash exhibited at the important ‘Exhibition of the Work of English Post-Impressionists, Cubists and Others’, where his work was selected by Spencer Gore of the Camden Town Group. The exhibition was held at the Public Art Galleries in Brighton between 16th December 1913 and 14th January 1914. Nash also taught and championed two other artists noted in Sussex, Eric Ravilious and Edward Bawden, at the Royal College of Art in London.

I have long been of the opinion that Sussex stands out as an important centre for Modern British Artists working in the 20th century. Paul Nash’s original and influential work, and his connection with Sussex, makes him a favourite of mine.

When History Becomes the Stuff of Legend

Pleasure craft of a type that went to Dunkirk painted by the Sussex artist Ronald Ossory Dunlop after the war, image © Toovey’s

There are moments in the procession of the our long island history which in their re-telling have become the stuff of legend and which define the character of our island people. They have inspired our writers, artists and leaders.

It was Shakespeare in Richard II who, alluding to the Divine Right of Kings and England as an earthly paradise, gave these dying words to John Gaunt, The Duke of Lancaster…

“This royal throne of kings, this sceptred isle,

This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars.

This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England.”

It was King Alfred the Great who first to commissioned and personally translated many of the world’s great Christian and classical texts from Latin into Old English more than half a millennium before the Reformation. He hid from the Viking hoards in the marshes of Athelney in Somerset and emerged to defeat their armies. |His actions have become part of our nation’s folklore and the stuff of legend.

As the 80th Anniversary of the D-day landings approaches I have been reflecting on another moment in our nation’s history when we stood alone in the face of almost certain invasion and defeat. Our army of some 338,000 men were surrounded by Hitler’s forces and under constant attack on the beaches at Dunkirk. Vice Admiral Sir Bertram Ramsay had formulated and begun planning the evacuation of The British Expeditionary Force on the 20th May 1940 assembling a flotilla of more than 800 civilian pleasure craft to be sent across the channel. He called it Operation Dynamo. The boats sailed from Ramsgate on the 26th May 1940 rescuing almost all of our soldiers. They became known as the Dunkirk Little Ships. It was the stuff of legends. Ramsay would be made Commander in Chief of the Allied Naval Forces for Operation Neptune, the naval part of Operation Overlord – the D-day landings.

Speaking to the House of Commons on 4th June Winston Churchill invoked our long island history and said ‘…we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender…’ The Battle of France was ending the Battle of Britain was about to begin.

Medals Speak Strongly of a Remarkable Woman’s Courage, Service and Duty

Nursing Sister Annie Alexander medals and awards

Medals speak strongly of remarkable courage, service and duty. They are collected with great reverence and a desire to keep the stories of the recipients alive.

Nursing Sister Annie Alexander’s story was vividly retold when a group of medals and associated papers and photographs were sold in Toovey’s specialist auction for £5500.

World War I nurses were members of the Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Military Nursing Service (QAIMNS). There were about 10,000 regular and reserve QAs serving in countries as far afield as France, India, East Africa, Italy, Palestine, Egypt, Mesopotamia, Salonika and Russia.

This rare group of seven First World War period British and French medals and decorations awarded to Nursing Sister Annie Alexander comprised a Royal Red Cross , a Military Medal, a 1914-15 Star, a 1914-18 British War Medal and a 1914-19 Victory Medal, a French M‚daille d’Honneur des Epid‚mies en vermeil and Belgian L’Arm‚e … ses Infirmaries nursing medal, with various related original and copied paperwork and photographs.

A rare group of seven First World War period British and French medals and decorations awarded to Nursing Sister Annie Alexander with associated photographs and paperwork

They related to her service during the Great War at Queen Alexandria’s Hospital at Dunkirk. I ask Mark Stonard, Toovey’s militaria and medals specialist, about the collection and he says “The hospital acted as a station for invalided soldiers from the front. Annie was one of the front-line nurses aiding these soldiers under horrendous circumstances. The hospital was bombed from the air on a number of occasions. Annie was awarded the medals in 1917 along with some of her fellow nurses who worked with her at Dunkirk.

“The Military Medal awarded to Annie was instituted in 1916. The obverse had an effigy of King George V, the reverse bore the inscription “For Bravery in the field.

In total some 115,600 military medals were awarded during the First World War but only 127 were given to ladies. So this was an exceptionally rare group. Winning the Gallantry Medal must have been a source of great pride for Annie. What made this group even more special was the accompanying contemporary photos, paperwork and French and English certificates from the time which bring this very personal story to life.”

Mark speaks with passion and reverence about this remarkable person, her life and our common story, our history.

Detectorist Strikes Gold At Itchingfield

The obverse and reverse of an Edward IV second reign gold-angel c.1471-1483, mintmark and heraldic cinquefoil

A gold-angel coin discovered at Itchingfield in West Sussex has just been sold at Toovey’s for £4200.

Toovey’s coin specialist, Mark Stonard, explains “Dating from between 1471 and 1483 the coin was an example of a gold-angel coin introduced during the reign of Edward IV in 1465. The obverse depicts the Archangel Michael defeating the devil who is represented as a dragon. The reverse is decorated with a ship showing the power of the English naval fleet and the importance of shipping to our overseas trade.”

I ask Mark about the coin’s discovery, he replies “The coin was found at Itchingfield in the Horsham District by a responsible detectorist. It was recorded by the Portable Antiquities Scheme and returned to the finder. The finder and the landowner decided to enter this remarkable coin into Toovey’s specialist coin sale where it made £4200. It’s so important to emphasise the value of recording finds made by metal detectorists. The location and context of where things are found gives us a fantastic record of what has been before us.”

Mark continues “These coins were often known as touch pieces and were thought to bring good fortune and healing. It was thought that coins given at Holy Communion could be rubbed on parts of the body suffering from rheumatism to bring a cure. This tradition was also employed using coins given by the King or Queen in a ceremony which illustrated the ‘Divine Right of Kings’ before God. People of royal blood were thought to have the God-given power of healing through touch which is why the coins became known as touch pieces. Coins which depicted the defeat of the Devil were favoured and emphasised the monarch’s divinely given healing power.”

The obverse and reverse of a Henry VIII first coinage gold-angel c.1509-1526, mintmark castle (well-centred with a nice full flan)

“A Henry VIII first coinage gold-angel coin dating from between 1509 and 1526 was also entered at Toovey’s and realised £3000. These coins are often pierced so they could be worn by the recipient, it was exciting to see these two complete examples.”

Reflecting on the current high prices for coins Mark concludes “The specialist collector’s field of coins remains really strong. These objects help us to understand our history and powerfully connect us to it.”

Mark Stonard is inviting entries for his next specialist sale of coins on and can be contacted by telephoning 01903 891955.