Darnley Fine Art Gallery

On our stand at Battersea Dec Fair this fine work by A.D. McGormick.

Fulani (Peul) woman from Fouta Djallon, central Guinea. Traditional African hairstyles are symbols of cultural identity. This majestic and gorgeous braided hairstyle was donned by Fulani women and passed down from one generation to another.
For sale at the gallery
Albert Charles Dequene (1897-1973)
“Fouta Djallon woman with crest headdress”
Pastel on paper, signed lower right & dated ‘32’
Image size: 19 3/4 x 18 inches (50 x 46 cm)
Hand made ebonised and gilded frame

To commemorate the 80th Anniversary of the D-Day landings, we have for sale this special artwork painted at the time newly arrived.
The work depicts the early morning aerial assault and airborne operations involved. They were to establish a secure area to expand the beachhead footing.
Page
1944
D Day Airborne Operations
Gouache, signed
Image size: 27.5 x 21 inches
Framed

This weeks new work by John Augustus Atkinson
(1775–1833), “An Army Wagon Train from the Peninsula War”
A major reason an army marched in columns in the past was because of these supply wagons, such as the one shown in the picture, they could only really travel along roads.
Oil on canvas
Image size: 23 1/2 x 30 1/4 inches (60 x 77 cm)
Original Gilt frame

'Summer in the City' by American artist Lena Gurr (1897 - 1992)
This colourful painting depicts a group of swimmers as they throw themselves from a pier, into a cooling nearby body of water. Gurr has forever captured this movement, freezing these bodies in the air, mid-jump, with a constant promise that they will soon splash through the surface of the water below.
Although bold and clearly quite abstract in nature, the details of this artwork are charming - a small child sits on the pier, already wrapped in a towel after his own watery dip. Note too how the nearest diver holds their nose with one hand, in an attempt to stop the water going in as they submerge.
Lena Gurr had a prolific career in which she painted landscape scenes and still lifes but her most noted works are ones such as these, showing everyday city scenes that were laced with social commentary. Indeed, Gurr's noted that her artwork always aimed to show "the joys and sorrows of everyday life." During the course of her career Gurr's compositions retained emotional content as they evolved from a naturalistic to a semi-abstract cubist style. Discussing this trend, she once told an interviewer that as her work tended toward increasing abstraction she believed it nonetheless "must have some kind of human depth to it."

'Lilith and the Snake' by George Von Hoesslin (1851 - 1923)
This dynamic painting is of the mythic figure Lilith. Born by the hand of the Creator, and shaped from impure clay, she takes the form of the snake of temptation and incites Eve to eat the forbidden fruit.
Here, Lilith appears in all of her sensuality as she stares directly at the snake that is twisted firmly around her - a snake that she does not fear, and whose form, according to Jewish mythology, she takes to pervert her victims. The snake coiled around her makes them both appear as one, the line where one ends and the other begins is blurred.
Her luminous and milky skin detaches from the background and focuses our attention entirely on her fatal beauty. The juxtaposition of the scaly snake wrapped around Lilith's luminous flesh emphasises the physical difference between the two. Far from the religious depiction of the demoness, the artist then offers a nearly provocative image by depicting the perfect mix between calm and sensuality for such a sinful figure.
George Von Hoesslin
1851 - 1923
'Lilith and the Snake'
Oil on canvas, signed lower left
Image size: 16 x 15 3/4 inches
Original gilt frame

Darnley Fine Art | Specialist Fine Art Dealer The gallery is in Cecil Court, just a stone’s throw away from the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square. We always have a mix of pictures on display across two floors.

Leon Bellemont's (1866 - 1961) 'Anatomy of Man'.
In 1884, at the age of 18, the artist Léon Bellemont joined the National School of Decorative Arts, followed by the prestigious Ecole des Beaux-Arts. There, he followed the teaching of Léon Bonnat, a renowned portraitist, and obtained his first rewards and several prizes. It was in 1892, however, that his artistic career took off, with his first participation in the Salon des artistes français, where he exhibited until 1956.
France for several years participating in exhibitions. During the First World War, he settled in Algiers where he remained for several years. He then returned to Paris, worked extensively there and achieved great fame.
A socialite, he frequented salons and regularly received his friends Jules Adler, Gabriel Fauré and his compatriot from Haut-Marne Camille Flammarion. During all his wanderings, one constant remained: he regularly returned for short stays, over the decades, in his good hometown of Langres.