'Hydrant II', Graham Sutherland OM

Artwork details

Artist

Graham Sutherland OM (1903‑1980)

Title

Hydrant II

Date 1954

MediumOil paint on canvas

Dimensionssupport: 1118 x 905 mm

Collection

Tate

Acquisition Presented anonymously 1970

Reference

T01217

Not on display

Display caption

This picture is one of a number of works Sutherland made in the 1950s that were stimulated by memories of objects he had seen in factories and foundries as an official war artist during the Second World War. His main preoccupation during the 1930s and 1940s had been with organic forms. In works such as 'Hydrant' Sutherland extended this interest by exploring the relationship between organic and man-made forms. In 1972 he wrote: 'No doubt that these quasi machine forms were the result of my early training as an engineer but also there is rather more the question of my interest in the correspondence between machine and mechanical forms and natural forms'.

September 2004