Tempera on canvas
Tate Collection
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<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/thomas-lowinsky-1531" aria-label="More by Thomas Lowinsky" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Thomas Lowinsky</a>
Dawn Venus
Purchased 1940
adults
animals: features
animals: fish and aquatic life
Aphrodite / Venus
birth
birth to death
classical myths: gods and heroes
dawn
female
fish
nudes
people
religion and belief
rocky
sea
sea bed
seascapes and coasts
shell
society
times of the day
woman
<p>Lowinsky studied at the Slade School of Art, London and had his first solo exhibition at the Leicester Galleries, London, in 1926. He liked to paint very detailed imaginative compositions inspired by the Bible or classical mythology, of which this is a major example. In Renaissance paintings Venus is usually depicted rising naked and triumphant from a large sea-shell floating on the surface of the sea. Instead, Lowinsky has decided to portray Venus in a rather withdrawn mood, seated within a large shell, which appears to be resting on the sea floor.</p><p><em>Gallery label, September 2004</em></p>
painting tempera canvas
29 March 2025 – 14 September 2025
2025-09-14
29 March 2025 – 14 September 2025
2025-09-14
2025-03-29
Hastings Contemporary (Hastings, UK)
2025-03-29
Undersea
Loan-out
The Dawn of Venus
support: 775 × 724 mm
frame: 1150 × 1130 × 115 mm
Purchased 1940
<p>Lowinsky studied at the Slade School of Art, London and had his first solo exhibition at the Leicester Galleries, London, in 1926. He liked to paint very detailed imaginative compositions inspired by the Bible or <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/c/classicism" title="Glossary definition for 'Classicism'"><span>classical</span></a> mythology, of which this is a major example. 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/r/renaissance" title="Glossary definition for 'Renaissance'"><span>Renaissance</span></a> <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>paintings</span></a> Venus is usually depicted rising naked and triumphant from a large sea-shell floating on the surface of the sea. Instead, Lowinsky has decided to portray Venus in a rather withdrawn mood, seated within a large shell, which appears to be resting on the sea floor.</p>
Display caption
2004-09-03T00:00:00
display-caption
DISPLAY_CAPTION
<p><b>N05226</b> THE DAWN OF VENUS 1922
<br/> 
<br/>Inscr. ‘TEL [in monogram] 1922’ b.l. and ‘The Dawn of Venus by T. E. Lowinsky’ on back.
<br/>Tempera on canvas, 30 1/2×28 1/2 (77·5×72·5).
<br/>Purchased from the artist (Knapping Fund) 1940.
<br/><i>Exh:</i> Leicester Galleries, February 1926 (25); N.E.A.C., November 1926 (225); <i>International Exhibition</i>, Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, October–December 1927 (245); <i>Paintings</i>, <i>Drawings, Engravings and Sculpture by Artists resident in Great Britain and the Dominions</i>, Imperial Gallery of Art, March–June 1931 (139); Wildenstein, January–February 1949 (16).
<br/><i>Lit:</i> Allan Gwynne-Jones, <i>Portrait Painters</i>, 1950, p.37.	</p>
<p><i>Repr:</i> <i>Studio</i>, CXXII, 1941, p.68.
<br/>
<br/>[no further details]
<br/>
<br/><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
2004-07-21T00:00:00
catalogue-entry
CATALOGUE_ENTRY
adults animals: features animals: fish and aquatic life Aphrodite / Venus birth birth to death classical myths: gods and heroes dawn female fish nudes people religion and belief rocky sea sea bed seascapes and coasts shell society times of the day woman