Code: 4069
Dimensions:
A beautiful large signed and dated 1937 watercolour by Roland Vivian Pitchforth RA depicting the River Medway at Rochester in Kent.
Fine quality and important pre-war view of Rochester by this important Modern British painter. A leading example the artists output.
The work comes with impeccable provenance - it was previously sold through the prestigious dealership Wildenstein & Co. Limited of New Bond Street, London and owned by F.M.S. Winand, who was a very important collector of Modern British art. There are also several loan exhibition labels.
F.M.S. Winand owned works by the most important British artists of the early to mid 20th century, including Augustus John, Christopher Wood and Sir William Nicholson. An exhibition of Winand's Collection was held at the Kensington Art Gallery in 1949 - it is quite possible that this painting was exhibited at that time.
Signed and dated lower right and presented in a beautiful painted wood frame which has been finished with ultra clear UV resistant glass.
Artist: Roland Vivian Pitchforth RA (British, 1895-1982)
Title: The Medway, Rochester
Medium: Watercolour on paper
Size: 25.5 x 30 inches (65 x 76 cm) including the frame
Signed: Lower right
Provenance: Widenstein & Co. Limited, London
Provenance: F.M.S. Winand, London
Roland Vivian Pitchforth (also known as Vivian Pitchforth and R.V. Pitchforth) was a landscape and seascape painter in watercolour and, before 1945, oil. Born at Wakefield, Yorkshire, Pitchforth studied at Wakefield School of Art 1912–1914, Leeds College of Art 1914–1915 and 1919–1920, his studies being interrupted by war service.
He was then at the Royal College of Art 1920–1925, and also visited Paris. Pitchforth’s first one-man show was at the London Artists’ Association in 1928, and the year later he exhibited with the LG.
He was an Official War Artist between 1940–1945. Pitchforth began exhibiting at the RA in 1941 and was elected RA in 1953, his first retrospective having been held at Wakefield 10 years earlier.
From 1945 Pitchforth travelled extensively, in Ceylon, Burma and South Africa. On return from there in 1948 he took up a teaching post at Chelsea polytechnic, Camberwell, St Martin’s School of Art, Clapham and the Royal College of Art also drawing on teaching skills at various times.
Pitchforth’s delicately washy watercolours became a feature of RA Summer Exhibitions after World War II. His work is in the Tate Gallery, Victoria & Albert Museum, in many provincial galleries and abroad. Lived in London.
