Alfred William RICH, N.E.A.C. (1856-1921) “The Rose Garden”, Circa 1908

Alfred William RICH, N.E.A.C. (1856-1921) 
"The Rose Garden", Circa 1908
Watercolour on oatmeal paper 
Unsigned

Measures:-
32 cm x  44 cm

Provenance:-
Claude E.S. Bishop, Norton Priory, Church Norton, Selsey, Sussex (and thence by descent) 

Exhibited:-
"The Rose Garden", No.65 in the exhibition of works by A.W.Rich at the New English Art Club's Galleries, 3-22 March 1908 (Probably).

Literature:-
This work will be included in the forthcoming catalogue raisonné of the work of Alfred William Rich currently in production.

Unusual within A.W. Rich’s oeuvre for its inclusion of figures and its overtly picturesque subject, this watercolour nevertheless retains the qualities which were to make his work so distinctive.

Rich’s loose, atmospheric handling of paint and deep, resonant colour harmonies - so reminiscent of the great tradition of early English watercolours - are fully evident here. While many of his contemporaries pursued meticulous detail in the rendering of flowers, costume and architecture, Rich adopts a more suggestive approach, allowing form and mood to emerge from the colour washes with remarkable economy. He did not want his paintings to be "dull demonstrations of technical skill" and felt "the necessity of a picture being more than a mere copy from nature"[1] and so, rather than becoming absorbed in the minutiae, he invites the viewer to complete the scene through their imagination rather than their eye. Thereby conveying, through an emotional response, not only the appearance of the subject but also its atmosphere. Similar to figures in works by Rich's near exact American contemporary Maurice Brazil Prendergast (1859-1924), the two ladies to the left are mere suggestions, but we can see that they are dressed in full Edwardian finery.

As Rich was later to write:-

The prettiest of Surrey cottages may be exactly copied, with the most fascinating of tortoiseshell cats playing on the bricks in front of it, and yet a picture has not been produced... The mind can alone dictate to the hand the painting of a picture. Nature and its contemplation awake the mind to make an effort to record a thing of beauty. The result is no mere copy from nature, but a product of the human mind, which is the highest thing in creation. And this is Art.[2]

The work was one of a number of paintings by A.W.Rich which were owned by the financier Claude Bishop, his great Sussex friend and patron. Although as yet unidentified, the gardens depicted are possibly in Richmond, Yorkshire.

Notes:-
[1] P.246, Alfred W Rich, “Water Colour Painting”, Seeley, Service & Co Ltd, London, 1918
[2] P.246-247, Alfred W Rich, “Water Colour Painting”, Seeley, Service & Co Ltd, London, 1918