Private
Claude Francis Barry
(1883 - 1970)
ICI FactoryMidnight oils, (535), 1959
Private Collection
Claude Francis Barry (1883 - 1970)
Size:
Height – 88.5cm
Width – 70cm
This was one of three works on the subject Barry painted in St Ives after VE Day 9th May 1945.
There is no evidence that Barry visited Moscow – it is likely that he worked from photographs. His friend Misomé Piele recalled: when the great Moscow Fireworks was finished, all the pent-up fury and determination[which] had somehow been controlled [by] the delicate balance of true artistic genius ….. seemed to blast the studio asunder…..
Barry’s lifelong exploration of the French Pointillist technique – separating colours into dots which form vibrant tones across the picture surface – make him one of the key exponents of this style in 20th century British Art. In his paintings of the First and Second World Wars, with their trademark searchlights over London, he created a powerful cycle of works, whose poignancy was transformed into joy in his subsequent firework paintings celebrating the end of hostilities.
We are grateful to David Capps and Katie Campbell for assistance.
Much of Barry’s early life has been pieced together from letters found
in
his briefcase after his death. Also in the briefcase ‘ along with a
very
full passport and his battered old eye-shade ‘ was an unpublished
manuscript
on painting. This is the source of his quoted pronouncements
on life and
art.
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