Window Blind and Gate by David Holt (2003)
A large original oil on canvas in a bespoke frame
Author
Publisher
Printing Details
Painted in November 2003, this is an oil on canvas in a bespoke wooden frame (it is not glazed). The frame has been hand-painted in light grey and green to complement the painting. The frame measures 62 × 87cm and the painting is 51 × 76cm.
A calm painting by David, this shows a view through a window on to the muted greens of the Kentish countryside. The top half is dominated by the rigid, dark horizontal banding of a lowered Venetian blind. Beneath the blinds, the canvas opens into a fluid, luminous landscape that masterfully captures the damp, shifting light of late autumn in Kent. The middle distance is brought into sharp focus at the bottom by a rustic, pinkish five-bar farm gate set in the grass. The casual addition of loose fabric—a pale mauve garment draped over the bars alongside a dark vertical form—adds a compelling note of transient human presence.
Signed, dated and titled to the reverse.
Provenance: This painting comes directly from the artist's estate, and the work is offered with full provenance.
David Holt (1928–2014). Born in Hythe, Kent. Painter and Lecturer in Art. After National Service, he trained at the Canterbury School of Art, the Hammersmith School of Art and the Royal Academy Schools where he was awarded a medal for drawing and the Knapping Prize. He joined a studio-workshop with Gerald Holtom (designer of the CND symbol) in 1958 where he designed and produced proscenium curtains for schools. In 1958 he was awarded a Harkness Fellowship and travelled across America, producing many drawings and prints of the Pueblo Indians and their life-dance in Santa Fe in New Mexico, where he also worked with artist Agnes Sims. He returned to England in 1960 and continued to paint and work on large textile appliques for schools, churches, and private houses including Spade House in Kent, the former home of H G Wells.
He was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts in 1962, and in 1964 was commissioned to design and make a large textile applique 'Christ in Majesty' which still hangs in the chapel of Christ Church College in Canterbury.
He was Head of Art at Canterbury Christ Church University until his retirement in 1995. He exhibited widely in the UK and the States and worked with many art societies and summer schools across East Kent.
His work can be found in both private and public collections throughout the UK and America, including the Yale Centre for British Art. His painting "Coastal Watcher" was recently used for the dustwrapper on Modernism and Memory: Rhoda Pritzker and the Art of Collecting (Yale University Press, 2016).
Condition
This painting is in very good condition with just a little surface abrasion to the canvas. There is a little marking and bumping to the frame but otherwise, this remains an impressive and contemplative painting.
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Price
£165.00
