SUTHERLAND, Graham (1903-1980)

Graham Sutherland’s fascination with landscapes evolved over his career, from his idyllic early prints to the Surrealist paintings for which he became known. Sutherland studied printmaking at Goldsmiths School of Art, where he produced pastoral etchings and engravings influenced by the Romantic painter Samuel Palmer. Taking up painting in the 1930s, he drew inspiration from the rocky landscapes and organic forms of the Pembrokeshire coast in Wales and created foreboding landscape paintings that he exhibited in the 1936 International Surrealist Exhibition in London. Although nature was his primary subject, he later incorporated abstracted figures into his work. Deeply religious, Sutherland painted a highly acclaimed crucifixion for St. Matthew’s Church in Northampton and designed a tapestry of Jesus Christ for Coventry Cathedral. His work was presented at the 1952 Venice Biennale and 1955 São Paulo Bienal. In the 1950s he also painted several commissioned portraits, including a painting of Winston Churchill that the Prime Minister famously detested.