Abstract Oil On Canvas, Douglas Portway, 1961
Regular price
£795.00
Sale
Untitled abstract composition by South African artist Douglas Portway (1922 - 1993), dated 1961.
Oil on canvas, signed and dated upper right 'Portway 61' and again on the reverse.
Examples of Portway's work have sold well at Christie's.
81 x 31 cm
Painter, draughtsman and designer, born in Johannesburg, South Africa, who had a poor, unsettled childhood. Became a window-dresser; drew in his spare time and attended art schools including Witwatersrand Technical Art School, 1943–4, but was dissatisfied with the instruction; for several years taught at Witwatersrand and at University of Johannesburg; and in 1945 had his first solo show at Constantia Gallery, Johannesburg. In 1948 Portway married art student Rosalind Hertslet (they were later divorced), and they designed murals, tapestry and stained glass windows and exhibited together. In 1952 Portway gained a travel grant, spending several months in America. Five years later Portway left South Africa for good, travelled extensively in Europe, from 1959–66 living in Ibiza, in 1967 settling in St Ives, Cornwall, moving to Bristol in the early 1980s.
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Text source: 'Artists in Britain Since 1945' by David Buckman (Art Dictionaries Ltd, part of Sansom & Company)