Masterpiece 2022 sees Dickinson Gallery returning to stand 108 at the Royal Hospital Chelsea with a selection of Old Master, Impressionist and Modern paintings, sculpture and works on paper. Noteworthy among these highlights are two important racing pictures, George Stubbs’s Eclipse at Newmarket, with a groom and jockey (1770), a portrait of the greatest racehorse of the 18th Century by perhaps the greatest sporting painter of all time; and John Frederick Herring, the Elder’s The Start of The Goodwood Gold Cup, 1831, Lord Chesterfield’s Priam, His Majesty King William IV’s Fleur De Lis, and Mr. Stonehewer’s Variation (1832), an important record of one of the major events in the racing calendar. The stand will also feature an impressive group of Modern British highlights by Frank Auerbach, Barbara Hepworth, Henry Moore, and others.
This year’s stand is particularly strong in 18th Century British works. In addition to the Stubbs and Herring, Dickinson is offering figural and landscape paintings by James Ward, George Romney and William Hogarth. From the Continent, meanwhile, come Jean-Étienne Liotard’s enamel miniature Portrait of Sir Everard Fawkener (1694 – 1758), and Joseph Gott’s rediscovered marble A fox with her two cubs, a fine example by this premier animal sculptor.
Representing Impressionism is Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s La Seine à Port Marly – Voiliers (c. 1890), which shows the ongoing freshness and painterliness of the natural landscape inspired by trips to southern France. And leading the Modern British room are superb works by the preeminent names in Modern British sculpture: Henry Moore, represented by two bronzes, including the artist’s monumental Working model for ‘Standing Figure: Knife Edge’ (1961), and a dynamic work on paper, Family Groups (1944), one of his best-known subjects ultimately realised in sculpted form; and Dame Barbara Hepworth, creator of Four Forms (1974). These will be shown alongside Frank Auerbach’s powerful and painterly Head of William Feaver (2008), as well paintings by Graham Sutherland and William Scott.
These are complemented by a number of examples of Concrete and Concrete-influenced art. Max Bill’s Strahlung aus Blau (1972-73) is a very fine example of the Bauhaus-trained Swiss artist’s work, while Jean Gorin’s contemporary pieces reflect the influence of Mondrian’s Neoplasticism. Other featured works in this category are by Martin Blaszko and Mary Martin.