Printed from Woolley & Wallis

Description

John Bromfield Gay Rees (1912-1965)
Harlequin
Signed and dated Bromfield Rees./19.iii.54. (lower left)
Oil on canvas, unstretched
57 x 45cm
Unframed

Provenance:
By descent in the family of the artist

LOTS 161-172 - JOHN BROMFIELD ‘BROM’ GAY REES (1912-1965)

John Bromfield ‘Brom’ Gay Rees was born in Llanelli in 1912. Aged thirteen, he won first prize in Drawing and Design in the Junior section (under 17) at the National Eisteddfod. At fourteen he attended the school of Art and Craft in Llanelli, where the Principal D.E.H. Pratt ARCA encouraged him to enrol at the Royal Academy Schools in 1932. He was bright and gregarious at that time, proving to be an intelligent student with a lively personality. However, in 1935 Brom underwent a sinus operation and soon afterwards suffered a life threatening grand mal epileptic seizure. Ever fearful of a relapse he became increasingly agoraphobic and dependent upon barbiturates. He lived under the care of his sisters and his cloistered situation, compounded by ongoing ill health, made Brom taciturn and increasingly nocturnal. His former conviviality gone, the artist remained practically unknown to the general public during his lifetime. His style shows the influence of Synthetic Cubism (notably Picasso, Braque and Gris) following a single brief visit to Paris in 1948 but the lowkey and informal subject matter reflects his isolated lifestyle. At intervals he was urged to show his work. He would always reply with insistence that he was ‘not ready yet’ although some pictures were included in an Arts Council touring show of Contemporary British Painting in 1951. He died of lung cancer in Brompton hospital, aged 53. There was no major exhibition of his work until a show at the Michael Parkin Gallery in London in 1989.