Still Life with Cyclamen
Trekkie Margery Tulip Ritchie Parsons (Province of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa 1902 - Lewes 1995)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
c. 1950 - 1960
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
510 x 410 mm
Collection
Monk's House, Rodmell, East Sussex
NT 768772
Summary
Oil on canvas, Still Life with Cyclamen, Trekkie Ritchie Parsons, (1902-1995), c. 1950 - 60, signed: T[?] Parsons.
Full description
This still-life was painted by Trekkie Parsons (1902-1995) from one of the first-floor bedrooms at Monk’s House (possibly from Trekkie’s own bedroom at the property). It shows a flowering cyclamen, which would indicate that the painting was undertaken in the winter. Through the window, we catch a glimpse of the garden at Monk’s House with, what looks like, bare soil that again might indicate that the work was painted during the winter or very early spring. Parsons has used the oil paint in a very painterly, loose manner to describe the forms of the leaves and pale-pink flowers of the plant. Strong diagonal and vertical lines are formed by the cut-off windowsill and window frame, a compositional device taken from Impressionist and Post-Impressionist painting. An added compositional motif ,that looks back to the illusionistic tradition of the western still-life, can be seen in the way that the terracotta vessel, in which the plant pot sits, seems to teeter on the edge of the windowsill. This emphasises the illusion of three dimensionality in the work but also evokes a sense of ‘immediacy’ in the scene – a sense that the pot is in the act of balancing precariously. The white-stained frame is original and was selected by Trekkie. Although not formally a member of the Bloomsbury Group, Trekkie was influenced by the same modernism that informed the work of Bloomsbury artists such as Vanessa Bell. Trekkie became the partner of Leonard Woolf following the suicide of Virginia Woolf in 1941. Trekkie had been introduced to Leonard and Virginia through the Hogarth Press – Trekkie was asked to design dust jackets for a number of their publications including Vita Sackville-West’s All Passion Spent, 1931. Despite being married, Trekkie moved into Monk’s House a few months after Virginia’s tragic death. She would divide her time between Leonard’s home and that of her husband in London. The exact nature of their relationship was not publicly expressed. However, in his letters to Trekkie Leonard betrayed the strong emotional bond that arose from their unconventional relationship: ‘To know and to love you has been the best thing in life’. The subject of a cyclamen perhaps held a special symbolism for Trekkie and for Leonard. Leonard had given Trekkie a cyclamen when she was working on illustrations for the Hogarth Press. In response, Trekkie produced a drawing of this plant, which Leonard then purchased from her for £2. At Monk’s House, Leonard extended Virginia’s Writing Lodge to create a studio where Trekkie could paint and also where she could print lithographs, and this painting is one of the works that she undertook whilst there. 'Still-Life with Cyclamen', alongside a small lithograph (NT 768773), were purchased directly from Parsons by Professor William Robson of the London School of Economics whilst staying with Woolf and Parsons at Monk’s House, with his young daughter. Robson was a close friend of Leonard Woolf and collaborated with him on the journal Political Quarterly. The painting remained in the Robson family until it was generously donated to Monk’s House. Trekkie would remain Leonard Woolf’s life partner until his death in 1965. He left Monk’s House and the collections that he and Virginia amassed to Trekkie. Trekkie in turn sold Monk’s House to the University of Sussex, whilst donating the collections, to act as a monument to the life and work of Leonard and Virginia Woolf. Subsequently, in 1980, the National Trust took over ownership from the University.
Provenance
Purchased from the artist by Professor William A Robson, friend and colleague of Leonard Woolf with whom he founded ‘The Political Quarterly’. By descent to his daughter. Donated to the National Trust in 2024 for Monk’s House.
Makers and roles
Trekkie Margery Tulip Ritchie Parsons (Province of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa 1902 - Lewes 1995) , artist