Beschreibung:

John Luke RUA (1906 -1975) Nude Male Oil on board, 69 x 23cm (27 x 9'') Provenance: Estate of the artist; Private Collection. Exhibited: John Luke (1906-1975), Ulster Museum, Belfast and Douglas Hyde Gallery, Dublin, 27 January4 March 1978 (no. 4); John Luke Work from The Studio, The Bell Gallery, Belfast, FebruaryMarch 1980 (no. 23). Born into a working-class part of north Belfast John Luke initially left school to work in the citys shipyards and then its linen mills. His extraordinary talent at drawing brought him to Belfast School of Art when he was still a teenager. After enrolling in evening classes his teachers encouraged him to become a full-time student. In 1927, after wining prizes at the Sorella Art Exhibition and the Royal Dublin Societys Taylor Art Competition, Luke won the prestigious Dunville Art Scholarship, which would enable him to study at the Slade School of Fine Art in London for the next three years. This Male Nude was painted at the Slade under the tutelage of Henry Tonks one of the most influential teachers of drawing in the early twentieth century. It was completed in the life painting class and its combination of incredibly fine drawing and tiny feathery cross-hatched brushstrokes, to build up light and shade, demonstrates Lukes outstanding abilities as a draughtsman. Luke later recalled that Tonks had initially been critical of his drawings, stating these are rather good, as far as they go, but theres no form in any of them, and subsequently Luke concentrated all his efforts to perfect his drawing skills. The striking facial features of this male nude would later be re-used for the central figure in Lukes painting The Rehearsal, which was commissioned by the Belfast Museum and Art Gallery (now Ulster Museum) in 1948 as a demonstration of the tempera technique. Its anatomical fidelity also recalls Tonks drawings especially the male nudes he made as part of his work recording wounded veterans during the First World War. Tonks had initially trained as a surgeon and according to his biographer used his anatomical knowledge to teach life drawing as a swift and intelligent activity. Luke drew and painted many male nudes at the Slade employing a variety of different materials. A further example is his Seated Figure (lot 54 above) which is quickly, and brilliantly, sketched with chalks. Tonks encouraged his students to work with pastels and chalks when drawing from life (like the old masters). Whether in chalk or oil paint Luke fully realized Tonks desire to see the model as a corporeous unity, to render the flesh so it was almost tactile. Dr. Joseph McBrinn Belfast School of Art Ulster University Born into a working-class part of north Belfast John Luke initially left school to work in the citys shipyards and then its linen mills. His extraordinary talent at drawing brought him to Belfast School of Art when he was still a teenager. After enrolling in evening classes his teachers encouraged him to become a full-time student. In 1927, after winning prizes at the Sorella Art Exhibition and the Royal Dublin Societys Taylor Art Competition, Luke won the prestigious Dunville Art Scholarship, which would enable him to study at the Slade School of Fine Art in London for the next three years. This Male Nude was painted at the Slade under the tutelage of Henry Tonks one of the most influential teachers of drawing in the early twentieth century. It was completed in the life painting class and its combination of incredibly fine drawing and tiny feathery cross-hatched brushstrokes, to build up light and shade, demonstrates Lukes outstanding abilities as a draughtsman. Luke later recalled that Tonks had initially been critical of his drawings, stating these are rather good, as far as they go, but theres no form in any of them, and subsequently Luke concentrated all his efforts to perfect his drawing skills. The striking facial features of this male nude would later be re-used for the central figure in Lukes painting T