Drawn to Paper: Gwen John to Arshile Gorky

10 June - 17 July 2026

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    DRAWN TO PAPER

    Gwen John to Arshile Gorky

     

     

  • Piano Nobile’s exhibition of works on paper returns with watercolour, pencil, crayon, chalk, charcoal and other graphic media used by significant British, European and American artists of the twentieth century. Graphic, linear media reveal an artist and their sensibility and, much like handwriting, such artworks show an inalienable quality that speaks of a distinctive personality.

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  • Gwen John, Meudon Nocturne: A Street, 1925–32, c.

    Gwen John

    Meudon Nocturne: A Street, 1925–32, c. Watercolour on paper
    18.3 x 23.5 cm
    7 1/4 x 9 1/4 in

  • From the inception of art academies in the eighteenth century, the human figure was regarded as the most prestigious subject. This historic bias made possible the innovations of twentieth-century modernists, for whom a rigorous technical grounding in life drawing enabled a more profound exploration of subject. For students at the Slade School of Fine Art in London, among them Augustus and Gwen John, Stanley Spencer and Euan Uglow, drawing began with study from antique casts. Only later were they allowed to progress into the life room. Throughout these artists’ careers, the life model was an unfailing source of creative inspiration.
  • Paul Nash, Fantasy, 1932

    Paul Nash

    Fantasy, 1932

    Pencil and watercolour on paper

    35.6 x 55.9 cm
    Enquire
  • Arshile Gorky, Untitled, 1946, c.

    Arshile Gorky

    Untitled, 1946, c.

    Pencil and crayon on Strathmore paper

    48.3 x 62.9 cm
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  • There is a binding relationship between observation, life subjects and drawing. For many artists in post-war London—Auerbach and Kossoff, William Coldstream and Euan Uglow, Kitaj and Hockney—drawing was an electric attempt to capture an image. As for Walter Sickert, writing earlier in the century, netting a life subject remained for these artists an unmatched thrill: ‘The man, then, whom I have left standing with a cheroot in one hand, [...] has got to be drawn. He has got to be drawn. [...] He has got to be drawn before the fizziness in his momentary mood has become still and flat.’ 
  • Barbara Hepworth, Kneeling Woman in Armchair, 1949

    Barbara Hepworth

    Kneeling Woman in Armchair, 1949 Pen and ink on paper
    37 x 25 cm
    14 5/8 x 9 7/8 in
    Enquire
  • Peter Lanyon, Untitled, 1952

    Peter Lanyon

    Untitled, 1952 Pencil and charcoal on paper
    36.8 x 29.2 cm
    14 1/2 x 11 1/2 in
    Enquire

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  • Leon Kossoff, Young Man Seated, 1961

    Leon Kossoff

    Young Man Seated, 1961 Charcoal on paper
    142 x 75 cm
    55 7/8 x 29 1/2 in
    Enquire
  • Leon Kossoff, A ward in a London hospital No. 1, 1965

    Leon Kossoff

    A ward in a London hospital No. 1, 1965

    Gouache on paper
    55.5 x 115.5 cm
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  • Frank Auerbach, Mornington Crescent, 1969

    Frank Auerbach

    Mornington Crescent, 1969 Pencil on paper
    22.5 x 26.7 cm
    8 7/8 x 10 1/2 in
    Enquire
  • Frank Auerbach, Head of Catherine Lampert II, 1978-79

    Frank Auerbach

    Head of Catherine Lampert II, 1978-79

    Charcoal and black chalk on paper
    57.4 x 77 cm

     
    Enquire

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  • For availability and prices please contact the gallery