Margaret Mellis, Three Boats VI: Chinese Orange Green Purple White, c.1977

Lot description

Margaret Mellis, Scottish 1914-2009 - Three Boats VI: Chinese Orange Green Purple White, c.1977; oil on unstretched oval shaped canvas, 44 x 68.5 cm (ARR) Provenance: Bonhams, Blazing a Trail: Modern British Women, 20th September 2023, lot 27; Private Collection, purchased from the above Note: with estate sale reference number stamped on the reverse of the frame '8.043'. Margaret Mellis was a pioneer of abstraction from the 1940s in Britain, creating a highly innovative body of work that pushed the boundaries between painting and sculpture, always utilising a unique approach to colour. Mellis played an important role in the history of Modernism in St. Ives during the Second World War, her home with first husband Adrian Stokes providing a focal point for artists including Naum Gabo, Barbara Hepworth and Wilhelmina Barns-Graham. Mellis has been subject to major museum shows across the UK, including at City Art Centre, Edinburgh in 1997, the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, Norwich in 2008 and more recently at Towner Art Gallery, Eastbourne in 2022.