'Jane', Peter Greenham

Artwork details

Artist

Peter Greenham (1909‑1992)

Title

Jane

Date 1964

MediumOil paint on canvas

Dimensionssupport: 610 x 508 mm frame: 771 x 672 x 68 mm

Collection

Tate

Acquisition Presented by the Trustees of the Chantrey Bequest 1965

Reference

T00769

Not on display

Display caption

This portrait of Greenham's wife, the painter Jane Dowling, was painted in 1964, in which year Greenham became Keeper of the Royal Academy Schools, a post he occupied for twenty-one years. Based on direct observation, the image in his works was built up through a sequence of fresh individual touches of paint, so that a sense of the motif is held in balance with an evident delight in the process of painting. Greenham's principal subjects were portraits, interiors with people and landscapes in Britain, France and Italy. He exemplified the persistence and vitality of a significant quieter strain in British painting which drew upon and extended traditional approaches.

August 2004