Oil paint on wood
Tate Collection
Works with images
General Collection
Collection
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/sir-john-lavery-332" aria-label="More by Sir John Lavery" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Sir John Lavery</a>
Mrs Guthrie
Purchased 1945
actions: postures and motions
adults
domestic
Guthrie, Helen
individuals: female
interior - non-specific
interiors
named individuals
Newton, Helen
people
portraits
sitting
woman
<p>This tiny portrait study is of the wife of Lavery's friend the artist James Guthrie. They had married the year before. It may be a sketch for a larger portrait, or perhaps executed as a present. Lavery became a stylish portrait painter, especially of women, and like Whistler had a preference for dark colours and elongated proportions, but with a sharper sense of fashion. He began his career in Glasgow, where with Guthrie he belonged to a group of artists known as the 'Glasgow Boys'. They followed a French interest in painting out of doors. Lavery often began a new subject with a very small study, painted directly in front of his model.</p><p><em>Gallery label, September 2004</em></p>
painting oil paint wood
Mrs Guthrie
support: 318 × 171 mm
frame: 410 × 270 × 50 mm
Purchased 1945
<p>This tiny <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/portrait" title="Glossary definition for 'Portrait'"><span>portrait</span></a> study is of the wife of Lavery's friend the artist James Guthrie. They had married the year before. It may be a sketch for a larger portrait, or perhaps executed as a present. Lavery became a stylish portrait painter, especially of women, and like Whistler had a preference for dark colours and elongated <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/proportion" title="Glossary definition for 'Proportion'"><span>proportions</span></a>, but with a sharper sense of fashion. He began his career in Glasgow, where with Guthrie he belonged to a group of artists known as the '<a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/g/glasgow-school" title="Glossary definition for 'Glasgow School'"><span>Glasgow Boys</span></a>'. They followed a French interest in <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/painting" title="Glossary definition for 'Painting'"><span>painting</span></a> out of doors. Lavery often began a new subject with a very small study, painted directly in front of his model.</p>
Display caption
2004-09-03T00:00:00
display-caption
DISPLAY_CAPTION
<p><b>N05578</b> MRS GUTHRIE (?) 1898
<br/> 
<br/>Inscr. ‘to my friend Guthrie’ t.l. and ‘J. Lavery 98 [?]’ b.r. (the figures now illegible but given in earlier Tate Gallery catalogues).
<br/>Oil on wood, 12 1/2×6 3/4 (31·5×17).
<br/>Purchased from the Nicholson Gallery (Knapping Fund) 1945.</p>
<p>Helen Newton, second daughter of Alexander Whitelaw of Rowmore; she married Sir James Guthrie (1859–1930), a leading member of the <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/g/glasgow-school" title="Glossary definition for 'Glasgow School'"><span>Glasgow School</span></a> and a friend of Lavery, in 1897 and died in 1912.</p>
<p><b>Published in:</b>
<br/>Mary Chamot, Dennis Farr and Martin Butlin, <i>The Modern British Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture</i>, London 1964, I
<br/></p>

Catalogue entry
2004-10-08T00:00:00
catalogue-entry
CATALOGUE_ENTRY
actions: postures and motions adults domestic Guthrie, Helen individuals: female interior - non-specific interiors named individuals Newton, Helen people portraits sitting woman