Preparatory Sketch of a Lady
(Lucy, Lady Duff Gordon)
1913
Private Collection
Oil on Canvas board
16 x 13 in. (40.6 x 33 cm.)
Signed, dated and inscribed l.l. P. A. de
László / 1913 London
Jpg: Christies
Lucy,
Lady Duff Gordon (nee Sutherland, 1863-1935), famous as "Lucile", was a
top fashion designer with a clientele comprised of royalties,
socialites, and entertainment celebrities. Her firm, "Lucile, Ltd"
flourished from the turn of the century through the 1920s. Lady Duff
Gordon, noted for her flair for publicity and flamboyant personality,
is professionally best remembered for her work in the performing arts.
She costumed the operetta "The Merry Widow" on the London stage (1907),
the "Ziegfeld Follies" revues (1915-21) on Broadway, and such early
silent films as "Way Down East" (1920). As a designer, she is credited
with training the first fashion models, staging the first runway style
shows, promoting romantic lingerie, and introducing the slit-skirt. A
sister of novelist and screenwriter Elinor Glyn (1864-1943), Lady Duff
Gordon was a survivor of the "Titanic" disaster, along with her second
husband, Sir Cosmo Edmund Duff Gordon, Bt. (1862-1931).
(Randy Bigham)
Her
sister
was the
authoress Elinor Glyn:
Elinor
Glyn
(sister to Lady Duff Gordon)
1915
Lady
Duff Gordon's grandson, the Earl of Halsbury, told journalist Randy
Bryan Bigham that he knew that an unfinished portrait of his
grandmother had been started; in 1998 he gave Randy a color copy of an
artist's proof. Lord Halsbury said it was not a completed commission
because his grandmother had asked for the preliminary sketch to feature
both of her Pekingese instead of the one. He said he believed the
artist had offered to submit a second sketch but that she refused. The
Earl didn't know where the original was located as his grandmother only
retained the proof. Although the family knew that Philip Alexius
de Laszlo had painted Lady Duff Gordon's sister, Elinor Glyn, no one
was sure if he was the artist of this picture. It was not until seeing
the image of "Sketch of a Lady" on JSS Gallery that Randy Bigham
compared it to the proof Lord Halsbury gave him, which showed the works
matched.
Randy Bigham's
biography of Lady Duff Gordon, "Lucile –– Her Life by Design," has been
completed and is in the process of publication.
(Randy
Bigham to
Natasha W. in private correspondence; < rand ybi
gham@myfastmail.com>
Date: Sat, 23 Nov 2002; Mon, 07 Mar 2005)
Notes
Special thanks
to Randy Bigham, a friend
of the JSS Gallery, for sending me photographs and information on
Lucy, Lady Duff Gordon.
Reproduced:
Christie’s South
Kensington. Modern
British and Continental Paintings, Watercolours, Drawings and
Sculpture. Including Works from the studios of Philip de
László. . . June 13, 1997 (Auction Catalog), p. 20
(‘Portrait of a Seated Lady’); Christie’s South Kensington, Twentieth
Century British Art, Oct. 14, 2004 (Auction Catalog), lot. 44
Literature:
G. Rowcliffe & Co., Will Trust. Inventory of Portraits, Pictures,
Studies, Sketches, Drawings, etc. by Philip Alexius
László de Lombos, M.V.O., London, 1938, p. 73, no. 392;
Christie’s South Kensington. Modern British and Continental Paintings,
Watercolours, Drawings and Sculpture. Including Works from the studios
of Philip de László. . . June 13, 1997 (Auction Catalog),
p. 20 (‘Portrait of a Seated Lady’); Christie’s South Kensington,
Twentieth Century British Art, Oct. 14, 2004 (Auction Catalog), lot. 44
Provenance:
The artist’s estate; the artist’s son, Stephen de László;
Christie’s South Kensington. Modern British and Continental Paintings,
Watercolours, Drawings and Sculpture. Including Works from the studios
of Philip de László. . . June 13, 1997, lot 58 (‘Portrait
of a Seated Lady’);
This is a preparatory
sketch
for an as yet untraced portrait.
Sold
at Christie’s South Kensington, Twentieth Century British Art,
Oct. 14, 2004, Sale No. 9931, lot. 45; £3,107 GBP (est. £600-800)
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