Early oil paintings by Edmund Blampied, 1923 - 1930
This page shows 27 oil paintings by Edmund Blampied dated from 1923, when he held his first exhibition at the Leicester Galleries in London, to around 1930, shown at an exhibition at the gallery of Alex Reid & LeFèvre in Glasgow. Most of the oil paintings shown at Blampied's exhibition at the Leicester Galleries in 1925 have their own page.
The monochrome photographs were taken for Blampied by the fine art photographers A.C. Cooper, who are still in business. The photos, even though they are in monochrome, give an idea of the sort of scenes that Blampied was painting in oils in the 1920s. I have listed the serial number of the photograph given by A.C. Cooper, which is recorded on the back of most prints, presumably so that more could be printed from the negatives. This number helps to date the paintings around major exhibitions. The Cooper numbers are given below, when known, after the initials ACC. Cooper's record books of these photographs were destroyed by water during the Second World War.
Many of the photographs are owned by the Blampied family, but Marianne Blampied gave some away to her friends or may have sold some. I bought some at auction. I'd like to thank the Blampied family for allowing me to reproduce the photographs.
Tante Elizabeth, see below (click to enlarge)
This is only a small, random selection of Blampied's paintings from this period for which I have seen photographs. But it interesting to note that 12 of the paintings are similar in design to prints: 11 designs were published as drypoints, one as a lithograph, and one as both a drypoint and a lithograph. I wonder how many of the other titles Blampied painted in this period were similar to prints? We will have to wait for more of his paintings to appear at auction. I wonder where they are?
Date: February, 1923
Exhibition: No. 342, Leicester Galleries of Ernest Brown & Philips, London
Catalogue number: 50
Title: 'The Fisherman's return'
ACC: none
Notes: The painting is also known as a drypoint with the same title [CD:70; AA:83; AH:E22.2ii], but in reverse.
Reproduction in Drawing & Design, May 1923
(Click to enlarge)
This painting is in a private collection in the USA.
Date: February, 1923
Exhibition: No. 342, Leicester Galleries of Ernest Brown & Philips, Leicester Square, London
Catalogue number: 56 or 63
Title: 'Jersey seaweed gatherers' or 'Les vraicheurs'
ACC: 21314
Notes: There are two appropriate titles in the catalogue of this exhibition. This painting is also known as a drypoint with a similar composition, unusually the same way round, called 'Vraic men' [CD:43; AA:53; AH:E19.3]. This suggests that the painting was based on the print and the title 'Les vraicheurs' is correct.
(Click to enlarge)
Date: February, 1923
Exhibition: No. 342, Leicester Galleries of Ernest Brown & Philips, Leicester Square, London
Catalogue number: 56 or 63
Title: 'Jersey seaweed gatherers' or 'Les vraicheurs'
ACC: none
Notes: There are two appropriate titles in the catalogue of this exhibition. This painting is also known as a rare drypoint with a similar composition, signed 'Blampied 1920' [AA:58; AH:E20.18].
(Click to enlarge)
Date: February, 1923
Exhibition: No. 342, Leicester Galleries of Ernest Brown & Philips, Leicester Square, London
Catalogue number: 57
Title: 'Tante Elizabeth'
ACC: none
Notes: This painting was reproduced on the cover of the art magazine Drawing and Design in May 1923. This painting is in a private collection in Jersey.
Cover of magazine (Click to enlarge)
(Click to enlarge)
Date: February, 1923
Exhibition: No. 342, Leicester Galleries of Ernest Brown & Philips, Leicester Square, London
Catalogue number: 76
Title: 'Mid-day rest'
ACC: none
Notes: This painting was reproduced in the magazine Drawing & Design in May 1923.
This painting is also known as a rare etching called 'Le vacher' with a similar composition, signed 'Blampied 1920' [CD:50; AA:63; AH:E20.15] and a lithograph called 'Jean Francois' or 'The cowman' and published in 1921 [AA:L2; AH:L21.1].
(Click to enlarge)
Date: February, 1923
Exhibition: No. 342, Leicester Galleries of Ernest Brown & Philips, Leicester Square, London
Catalogue number: 77
Title: 'Night piece'
ACC: none
Notes: This rather dark painting shows a white horse in a stable with two figures bent over its right foreleg by a lamp. There is a ladder to the right.
(Click to enlarge)
Date: February, 1923
Exhibition: No. 342, Leicester Galleries of Ernest Brown & Philips, Leicester Square, London
Catalogue number: 81
Title: 'Interior of a stable'
ACC: none
Notes: This painting is in a private collection in the UK.
(Click to enlarge)
Date: February, 1923
Exhibition: No. 342, Leicester Galleries of Ernest Brown & Philips, Leicester Square, London
Catalogue number: 83
Title: 'The stranger'
ACC: none
Notes: This is a similar design, not in reverse, to a drypoint published in 1920 of the same title (CD:55; AA:66; AH:E20.10). In the print the man on the left wears a hat and the man on the right is standing straighter.
(Click to enlarge)
Date: 1923?
Exhibition: unknown
Catalogue number: unknown
Title: 'Belgian horse'?
ACC: none
Notes: This is presumed to have been painted in about 1923 because the Cooper number is close to the number of catalogue 56, shown above.
(Click to enlarge)
(Click to enlarge)
The title was recorded when the painting was for sale. There is no painting of that title listed in any exhibition catalogue. Blampied depicted bathing machines in a drypoint of a scene at Ostend, published in 1926 [AA:119; AH:E26.5].
Date: 1923?
Exhibition: unknown
Catalogue number: unknown
Title: 'Fisherwomen of prawns'?
ACC: none
Notes: This is presumed to have been painted in about 1923 because the Cooper number is close catalogue number 56, shown above. The title was recorded on the back of the photograph.
(Click to enlarge)
Date: 1923?
Exhibition: unknown
Catalogue number: unknown
Title: 'Sea breezes'?
ACC: none
Notes: This is presumed to have been painted in about 1923 because the composition is related to a drypoint called 'Sea breezes' (CD:76' AA:94; AH:E23.8ii], which was published in 1923. The title is taken from the title of the print, but no painting with this title has been found in any catalogue.
(Click to enlarge)
Date: 1923?
Exhibition: unknown
Catalogue number: unknown
Title: 'Returning to the stable'?
ACC: none
Notes: This is presumed to have been painted in about 1923 because the composition is related to a 1920 drypoint called 'Returning to the stable' (CD:51' AA:64; AH:E20.9] and it was reproduced in the magazine Colour in March 1923. The title is not given in the magazine and it is not listed in the catalogue of the exhibition in 1923 at the Leicester Galleries of Ernest Brown & Philips.
(Click to enlarge)
Date: 192?
Exhibition: unknown
Catalogue number: unknown
Title: unknown
ACC: none
Notes: Nothing is known about this painting other than this photograph in the collection of the Blampied family.
(Click to enlarge)
Date: 192?
Exhibition: unknown
Catalogue number: unknown
Title: unknown
ACC: none
Notes: Nothing is known about this painting other than this photograph in the collection of the Blampied family.
(Click to enlarge)
Date: 1928/29
Exhibition: unknown
Catalogue number: unknown
Title: 'The butterfly'?
ACC: 41993
Notes: This is the same scene as a print called 'The butterfly' [AA:133; AH:E28.4] but in reverse. No painting with this title has been found in any catalogue. The Cooper number indicates that it was photographed after paintings shown at the exhibition in 1925 and before paintings shown in 1929/1930.
(Click to enlarge)
Date: 1929
Exhibition: Alex Reid & LeFèvre, London
Catalogue number: 14
Title: 'The Three Friends'?
ACC: 42087
Notes: The title is presumed. The Cooper number indicates that it was photographed after paintings shown at the exhibition in 1925 and before paintings shown in 1929/1930. I love the little white horses in the distance.
(Click to enlarge)
Date: 1929
Exhibition: Alex Reid & LeFèvre
Catalogue number: 15
Title: 'La Tante'
ACC:
Notes: This was reproduced in the magazine Colour in July 1929. No title was given, so it is presumed from the catalogue.
(Click to enlarge)
Date: 1929
Exhibition: Alex Reid & LeFèvre
Catalogue number: 11
Title: 'La Goutte'
ACC:
Notes: This was reproduced in the magazine Colour in August 1929. The composition is very similar to the watercolour perhaps called 'Le Patron'.
(Click to enlarge)
Date: 192?
Exhibition: unknown
Catalogue number: unknown
Title: unknown; An arch in Tarascon?
ACC: none
Notes: This is presumed to have been painted in about 1925 because that's the date of a print of the same scene [AA:110; AH:E25.11], but it might have been painted later than that given the Cooper number of the night scene, below.
Preliminary drawing, now in a Good Home (Click to enlarge)
(Click to enlarge)
Date: 1929/1930
Exhibition: Alex Reid & LeFèvre, Glasgow
Catalogue number: none
Title: 'Night, Tarascon'
ACC: 52947
Notes: This is the same scene as the painting immediately above. It is presumed to have been painted in or after 1925 because that's the date of a print of the same scene, but it wasn't shown until 1929 and 1930. The Cooper number also dates it from about 1930.
(Click to enlarge)
Date: 1929/1930
Exhibition: Alex Reid & LeFèvre, Glasgow
Catalogue number: none
Title: 'Rain'
ACC: 52946
Notes: This title is written on the back of the photograph in Blampied's hand. It could be the same as 'Rain and mist' which was shown at an exhibition at Alex Reid & LeFèvre in 1929, but a painting of the same title was also shown in 1923. The Cooper number indicates that it was shown in 1929.
(Click to enlarge)
Date: 1929
Exhibition: Alex Reid & LeFèvre
Catalogue number: none
Title: 'Tunisian gateway'
ACC: 52948
Notes: The title is presumed from an exhibition catalogue. A drawing of a similar scene in pen and ink is owned by Eton College.
(Click to enlarge)
Date: 1929/1930
Exhibition: Alex Reid & LeFèvre, Glasgow
Catalogue number: none
Title: 'The drink song'?
ACC: 52945
Notes: The Cooper number dates this from about 1930, photographed just before the painting of Tarascon shown above. The title 'Drink song' seems appropriate, but I am guessing.
(Click to enlarge)
Date: 1930?
Exhibition: unknown
Catalogue number: unknown
Title: unknown
ACC: 52946
Notes: The Cooper number dates this from about 1930. I can't find and obvious title from the catalogues of exhibitions.
(Click to enlarge)
Date: 1929/3?
Exhibition: Alex Reid & LeFèvre
Catalogue number: unknown
Title: 'A farm near Wimereux'?
ACC: 52949
Notes: The Cooper number dates this from 1930. Two lithographs of a farm are known: 'A Normandy farm' (AA:L15; AH:L24.4) and 'A farm near Wimereux' (AA:L36; AH:L24.5). The closer scene is 'Normandy farm' but there is an oil painting with the title 'Farm near Wimereux' shown at Alex Reid & LeFèvre in 1930, so that is taken to be the title of this painting.
(Click to enlarge)
Date: 1930
Exhibition: Alex Reid & LeFèvre
Catalogue number: unknown
Title: 'Lesiure moments'?
ACC:
Notes: This painting was reproduced in Colour magazine in April 1930. The title is guessed from the titles at the exhibition.
(Click to enlarge)
Date: 1929/30?
Exhibition: Alex Reid & LeFèvre
Catalogue number: unknown
Title: 'Night-time traffic'
ACC: 52943
Notes: This painting was reproduced in Colour magazine in October 1931. A drypoint of a similar scene published in 1927 is called 'Street by night' (AA:128; AH: E27.1ii] but is in reverse.
(Click to enlarge)
(Click to enlarge)