{"product_id":"fitzpayne-alice-mary-two-original-sketchbooks-reusing-nineteenth-century-blank-books","title":"FITZPAYNE, Alice Mary. Two original sketchbooks reusing nineteenth-century blank books.","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFITZPAYNE, Alice Mary.\u003c\/strong\u003e Two original sketchbooks reusing nineteenth-century blank books. [\u003ci\u003eLondon and Yorkshire\u003c\/i\u003e]. \u003ci\u003ec.\u003c\/i\u003e 1960–1975.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e[\u003ci\u003ewith\u003c\/i\u003e:]\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFITZPAYNE, Alice Mary\u003c\/strong\u003e. Four original mixed media illustrations (coloured pencils, ink, pastel, watercolours) depicting clowns on soft white paper (c. 560 x 470 mm, including mount). \u003ci\u003ec\u003c\/i\u003e. 1960s; all signed by Fitzpayne.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e8vo. Early eighteenth-century vellum over boards (186 x 122 mm); repurposed by Alice Mary Fitzpayne as a sketchbook, comprising ff. [20 (drawings in ink, pastel and pencil, some over ruled ledger pages)], [6 (blank)], [3 (drawings of pigs in ballpoint pen)], [11 (blank)], [3 (charcoal drawing of sheep)], [5 (blank)], [1 (ballpoint pen drawing)], [2 (blank)], [19 (drawings depicting landscapes and animals in black ink], [17 (copper-engraved medallions cut out and inserted by early nineteenth-century owner)]; clasps wanting, binding somewhat soiled a few paint marks to rear board;  a few pages neatly excised at an early date; 16 pp. of early nineteenth-century manuscript where used as a ledger between 1804 and 1810 with notes on the prices of ground rent, twentieth-century ownership inscription of Alice Fitzpayne in black pen to front free endpaper.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e8vo. Early eighteenth-century red morocco, spine and borders richly gilt, turn-ins gilt, edges gilt, green silk brocade endpapers with bow pattern; repurposed by Alice Mary Fitzpayne as a sketchbook, comprising ff. [39 (drawings in charcoal, ink and pastels predominantly depicting people including at the circus and on the street)], [76 (blank)], [10 (drawings in ink and charcoal of dogs, landscapes and people)], [3 (blank)], [4 (rough sketches of a dog)]; a little wear to joints and edges, a few leaves torn from the front at an early date; a remarkable example of a working artists sketchbook, with the note ‘This is Mary’s Beautiful Sketchbook’ to front free endpaper verso.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eTwo working sketchbooks, repurposed from nineteenth-century blank books, belonging to British artist Mary Alice Fitzpayne (b. 1928), with drawings exploring recurring themes of circus life and homelessness, alongside animal studies and landscapes depicting Yorkshire; sold with four original watercolour paintings of clowns.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFitzpayne studied at Leeds Art College and later at the Central School of Art and Design in London, where she worked under the tutelage of John Minton (1917–1957) and Francis Bacon (1909–1992). She also met her husband while studying there, the Austrian-Jewish refugee artist Eric Doitch (born Erich Deutsch, 1923–2000). Together, they moved to  Camberwell, London, in the early 1960s, and Fitzpayne’s focus shifted to ‘drawing in a figurative style those on the margins of society’ (British Museum). She has exhibited at group exhibitions in the UK, Germany, and the Netherlands, and has had solo exhibitions at the Usher Gallery, Lincoln (1983 and 1989), the Blackfriars Art Gallery (1988), and the UK’s Boston Guildhall (2000), and the British Museum owns two of her drawings.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFitzpayne’s work is predominantly portraiture, but her subjects are quite distinctive, often circus performers or people experiencing homelessness. Both of these themes are represented across the sketchbooks and in the original watercolours. One drawing features a man ‘looking for lice’ in his coat, and throughout the section of the nineteenth-century notebook, which was originally intended to be used as a ledger, there are examples of street brawls, and depictions of the homeless. Fitzpayne’s love of the circus can also be seen in the quick sketches of trapeze artists, and more finished pieces such as a performer in an elaborate costume, and clowns blowing bubbles.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe sketchbooks provide remarkable insight into her process as an artist. She uses both books \u003ci\u003edos-à-dos\u003c\/i\u003e, with a more finalised section to the front and quicker sketches to the rear. She has also chosen, in both cases, to reuse blank books from the early nineteenth century. In a few of the drawings she uses a grid method, usually rendered in red. Several of her sketches are accompanied by working notes and reminders for further development. On her drawings of a cat, there are the notes ‘pink dark’ labelled to the nose, and ‘brown streak’ to the forehead. To a landscape, she has written ‘stoney beach’ in a blank area.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSKU: \u003c\/strong\u003e2126579\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Henry Sotheran Limited","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":65053351248249,"sku":"2126579","price":1500.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0045\/2178\/7426\/files\/2126579d.jpg?v=1793383105","url":"https:\/\/sotherans.co.uk\/products\/fitzpayne-alice-mary-two-original-sketchbooks-reusing-nineteenth-century-blank-books","provider":"Sotheran's","version":"1.0","type":"link"}