Lot 211: Christopher Perkins (British, 1891-1968) Swans on a river

Swans on a river
signed with initials 'CP' (lower right), oil on canvas,
52 x 61cm (20 1/2 x 24in).

Christopher Perkins was born in Peterborough and was educated at Gresham's School, Holt and completed his artistic training at The Slade where contemporaries included Dora Carrington, Mark Gertlet, C. W. Nevinson and Stanley Spencer. His work was becoming well known by 1929 when he took a teaching position at the Wellington Technical College in New Zealand. Influenced by Maori art his he exhibited regularly with the New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts from 1929 to 1933 and held a solo exhibition in 1931. In 1933 he cememnted his reputation with a substantial exhibition in Sydney, Australia. He returned to England in 1934 before becoming an unofficial war artist and latterly concentrated his career on portraiture. He never regained the same acclaim which he had received in the Southern hemisphere.