John Armstrong, (British, 1893-1973)

Can Spring Be Far Behind 54.1 x 34.2 cm. (21 1/4 x 13 1/2 in.)

Can Spring Be Far Behind
signed with initials 'JA' (lower left)
tempera on thick card
54.1 x 34.2 cm. (21 1/4 x 13 1/2 in.)
Painted circa 1943

Provenance
Private Collection, U.K., since the 1990s

John Armstrong was appointed an Official War Artist in 1940 and tasked by the War Artist's Advisory Committee under the chairmanship of Sir Kenneth Clark to 'undertake some work' in recording 'the various aspects of the war' (Andrew Lambirth, John Armstrong, The Paintings, Philip Wilson Publishers, London, 2009, p.175). It is hardly surprising that his first commissions recorded dilapidated and bombed out buildings under the title of Debris and Demolition, given that even prior to conflict Armstrong had begun a prescient series of works based around ruins (exhibited at the Lefevre Gallery in 1938), for which his experience as a theatre and film set designer ably equipped him. Perhaps this can be attributed to artistic foresight or a sense of foreboding at the political climate unravelling on the continent from a man who had served as an Officer in the Cavalry and the Royal Field Artillery during the First World War. Either way, it marked a natural progression from overtly political works such Pro Patria (1938, Imperial War Museum), whose title had referenced Mussolini's ubiquitous slogan and the rise of Fascist propaganda.

Armstrong's enthusiasm to contribute to the war effort was clear and he stated that 'I am ready to go anywhere in the country at the request of the Ministry to paint the results of air raids if they occur'. However, with regards to his initial subject matter, he wrote in September 1940 that 'I am painting ruins for the Home Office but find it a distasteful subject at the moment' (Loc.Cit., p.175). Nonetheless, a group of important works emerged that year including The Elms (Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery), A Farm in Wales (National Museum of Wales, Cardiff) and Coggeshall Church, Essex (Tate Britain). The Debris and Demolition series was not limited to ruined buildings and in September 1940 (Manchester Art Gallery), the artist depicts a group of crashed German aircraft strewn across a beach, their twisted fuselages and broken bodies decomposing as if left by the tide in the shadow of Britain's emblematic White Cliffs. This and later aerial examples such as Jet Plane Graveyard (1942, RAF Museum, Hendon) bear similarity to the work of his friend Paul Nash who also visited the aircraft dump at Cowley, Oxford, to complete the seminal Totes Meer (1941, Tate Britain).

Where Armstrong differed from his fellow War Artist's such as Nash, Piper, Moore and Sutherland, was in his ability to bring the theme of renewal and hope to his imagery, evoked through an appreciation of Symbolism and Surrealism. This first emerges in The Tulip (1940, Private Collection), a small yet perfectly formed tempera composition depicting a singular flower rising to full bloom from a cluster of ruins and precisely dated 28 May 1940, the eve of Dunkirk. Can Spring Be Far Behind, a quotation taken from Shelley's Ode to the West Wind, also dates to 1940 and was originally intended to be a propaganda poster had Churchill not deemed it too dramatic in effect for a nation weathering the Blitz. Armstrong was of course very familiar with poster design having been commissioned by Jack Beddington, publicity manager for Shell Max and BP, to produce a group of works for them through the 1930s. Despite Churchill's reservations, the powerful image became one of the artist's most widely used and recognised with a number of subtly differing versions now known to exist, including the present lot. Fittingly, the Imperial War Museum hold an example in gouache and another was used as the front cover of the first volume of Future Books (Fig.1), the iconic contemporary text about progress in life, trade and culture immediately after the War in 1945. A further version, considered an initial study, was created with a differing background horizon to the others of rolling hills and remains the auction record for the artist.

Can Spring Be Far Behind offers an incredibly poignant emblem of hope in dark times as 'a single tulip blooms amidst the urban rubble, completely out of proportion to its surroundings, but perfectly judged in terms of the painting it dominates and the meaning it aims to project' (Op.Cit., p.74). The symbol of beauty and regeneration emanating from the present work affirms Armstrong as one of the most positive and visionary of War Artists. The use of tempera allows for vivid colour, which further enhances the sense of inherent optimism and the horizontal fine line brushwork in the sky is distinctive of the period whilst also being reminiscent of his friend and contemporary Edward Wadsworth (see Lot 7). Can Spring Be Far Behind is presented in an original Alfred Stiles Ltd frame, as was favoured by the artist at this time, with archival research dating this to 1943.

We are grateful to Jonathan Gibbs for his assistance in cataloguing this lot.