Graham SutherlandRoses. 1972-73.

Original lithograph in six colours. 1972/73. Signed in pencil. Numbered in pencil from the edition of 75. (There was also an edition of 26 impressions on japan paper and 15 HC proofs). Issued in the series: Three Lithographs 1974. Printed at the Mourlot Studio, 1973. Published by Teodorani, Milan 1974.

Reference: Tassi - Sutherland Complete Graphic Works no 148.

Provenance: William Weston Gallery, 2000. British Private Collection.

Superb impression with perfect fresh colours. On pale cream wove Arches paper. Pristine condition. Full margins. Sheet: 725 x 514mm. Image: 665 x 465mm.

Graham Sutherland was one of the great British artists of the period from the 1950's to 80's whose work was pushing new boundaries of expression. His greatest inspiration lay in the English tradition of the 'landscape visionary' stemming the 19th century art of painters such as William Blake and Samuel Palmer. Their theme was the ecstasy of vision stimulated by British nature and landscape. Sutherland linked this inspiration with the 'abstraction' of natural forms and, in particular, with a strongly Surrealist interpretation.

Colour was also a powerful element in Sutherland's art and it led him and his wife to buy a house and studio near Nice on the South of France coast in 1955. He revelled in the light and colour of the Nicoise country and one of his passions, alongside his art, was to establish an 'English-type' garden there. This he did with remarkable success and pleasure, as he showed me and my wife when we visited him at the end of the 1960's. His wife's favourite flower was the rose and the work here was inspired by roses in his garden. For him art was very spiritual and this was also a major element in his mature work.