5871

War picture

Mrs Edwin Konstam, née Mary Beatrix Loyd 1931

Half-length in three-quarter profile to the right, in mourning dress, wearing a hat and veil, holding a rosary, leaning against a column

Oil on canvasboard, 39.4 x 30.5 cm (15 ½ x 12 in.)

Inscribed verso by the Lucy de László, the artist's wife: Study of Mrs Konstam for War A Picture [sic.]

Sitters' Book, II, opp. f. 69: Kitty Konstam Oct. 7th 1931

Studio Inventory, p. 70 (375): Mrs. Konstam. Study for War Picture

Private Collection

During the 1930's, de László planned to paint a monumental history painting related to the First World War. His intention was to paint, "not men fighting, but the still nobler part of suffering women at home."^[1] 

In October 1931 Mrs. Konstam sat for a study portrait swathed in blue silk [5869] and de László noted in his diary “she will sit next year for my contemplated picture of 1914 – 1918.”^[2]  The artist was travelling abroad for much of the early part of 1932 and there is no mention of the sitter in his appointment book during the rest of the year, but as this was not a formal portrait it is probable that the further sitting was not recorded.

The War Picture was never completed, and many studies, including the present work, remained in the artist’s studio at his death.

For biographical details see entry [5869].

PROVENANCE:

In the possession of the artist on his death

LITERATURE:

•Rutter, Owen, Portrait of a Painter, London, 1939, pp. 372-73

•László, Philip de, 1931 diary, private collection

KF 2012