Ruth Vance
Figure in a Doorway, 1958
Oil on canvas
152 × 114 cm (59.8 × 44.9 in)
CR 58-03
The earliest surviving painting in the format. The armature is a doorway here rather than a drawn cage — within a year the door would come away from the wall and become the line that Vance drew for the next four decades.
Sold, 2024
$12,400
This work has been sold. The estate holds further paintings from the same period.
Detail
Detail: the doorway's edge, ruled and then dragged.
Provenance
- The artist;
- Beaux Arts Gallery, London, acquired directly from the artist, 1959;
- Private collection, London, acquired from the above, 1960;
- Private collection, by descent, 1992;
- The Estate of Ruth Vance, purchase, 2017.
Exhibited
- London, Beaux Arts Gallery, Ruth Vance: Paintings, 1961, cat. no. 2.
- Edinburgh, Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Ruth Vance: Figures in Rooms, 1978, cat. no. 6.
Literature
- M. Hollis, Ruth Vance: Catalogue Raisonné, London, 2014, no. 58-03, illustrated pl. 9.
Condition
Very good. Lined in 1992. Scattered retouching along the upper edge, visible under UV.
Report by Hallam Conservation, London, 2019-03-08. The full report is provided on enquiry.
The object
Signed and dated 'R.V. 58' lower right.
Later gilt frame. Glass.
Authenticity
Certificate of authenticity issued by The Estate of Ruth Vance, no. EV/2017/0071. Estate stamped on the reverse.
