raymond cowern ra rws english 1913-86 listed landscape

Description
This is an absolutely sublime, museum-quality, original, signed, framed, matted, and glassed watercolor or watercolour (as they like to spell it "across the pond") landscape painting of rural England by well-listed English artist Raymond Teague Cowern, R.A., R.W.S., R.E. (1913-1986). [Biographical information follows painting description.] The composition features an idyllic pastoral scene, perhaps in the Cotswolds or Somerset, with a country lane and hedgerows running through pasture land comprised of myriad shades of green. The lavender of thistle and saffron of wildflowers may be seen in the foreground and white swans glide serenely over a clear streamlet on the right, which leads the eye toward a quintessentially Anglican church set amid copses in the background. The church steeple rises into a gentle set of pastels in the late afternoon pale blue sky just touched with the first feint blushes of pink and light purple with the onset of evening. There is simply no way to adequately convey the extremely fine and delicate level of detail which Cowern's master brush strokes have rendered in the play of afternoon light and shade and in this landscape's verdure. The painting is signed in the lower left-center, 'R.T. Cowern - '51 (i.e. 1951).' Cowern included a further handwritten note on the back of the matting (underneath the backing paper), which reads "July 23, 1954 This painting has been exhibited at the Royal Society of Painters in Watercolours in London" with his additional full name signature "Raymond Cowern." (see photo). [The Royal Society of Painters in Watercolours is the former name of what since 1988 has been officially named the Royal Watercolour Society, (R.W.S.) the name by which it had always been generally known -- it is without question the most prestigious institution for English painters in watercolour.] The total dimensions of the piece with its matting and frame measures 17 and 1/4 inches (44 cm) in length by 13 and 3/4 inches (35 cm) in height; the painting itself as visible within its matting measures 10 and 1/2 inches (26.7 cm) in length by 7 inches (17.7 cm) in height. The painting itself as well as the matting are in superb condition, with some very light natural toning having occurred simply from the passage of time; there is some very light wear to frame from age. The painting was obtained from an estate in the elite enclave of Wellesley, Massachusetts and features a label from a framing shop formerly located there on the backing paper. Art is one of the greatest values for your money, very few other things bring you daily enjoyment and actually last a lifetime. Particularly with the recent turmoil and declines in international stock markets, it may be helpful to note that the extensive, well-documented, peer reviewed, published scholarly research of Jianping Mei and Michael Moses, two professors at New York University's prominent Stern School of Business, has demonstrated conclusively that art has frequently outperformed other classes of investments (stocks, bonds, gold) over time. This drawing fairly may be called a "blue chip" of English landscape painting and I am offering it at an incredibly economical price which represents fantastic value -- a completely unique one-of-a-kind original museum-quality painting -- at a price galleries would normally ask for one of Cowern's lithograph prints which were often produced in runs of 50, 100 or more.

Biography of Raymond Teague CowernBorn in 1913, Raymond Teague Cowern was a painter in tempera and watercolour, and an etcher who studied at Central School of Art, Birmingham and the Royal College of Art, London, then at the British School in Rome from 1937-39. He is well known for his etchings, especially those made of Egyptian subjects in the 1930s. He became member of the Royal Watercolour Society in 1947, producing artwork for the immensely popular LNER (London & North Eastern Railway) Post-War series and settled in Brighton for many years where he taught at, and succeeded Sallis Benney as Principal of, Brighton College of Art (established 1859), serving in the post from 1958 to 1974 and presiding over expansion, controversy, student unrest and the union of Art and Technology Colleges to form Brighton Polytechnic in 1968. (In 1992 Brighton Polytechnic officially became the University of Brighton.) Cowern died in 1986. Concerning the earned honorifics listed after his name, Raymond Teague Cowern was a member of the most prestigious English institutions for artists including the Royal Academy (R.A.), the Royal Watercolour Society (R.W.S.) and the Royal Society of Painter-Etchers (R.E.) (which was renamed in 1991, after Cowern's death, the Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers). His works have been included in the following exhibitions: 'Contemporary British Art and Engravings' which visited Liljevalchs Konsthall in Stockholm, Sweden; Konsthalle in Helsingfors (Helsinki) Finland, and Insytut Prop. Sztuki in Warsaw, Poland (1939); 'Exhibition of Contemporary Paintings, Watercolours, Drawings and Prints' organised by the British Council and first shown in the British Pavilion of the New York World's Fair in 1939 before an extensive tour of museum venues in the United States and Canada (including the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and the National Gallery of Canada); 'Contemporary British Prints and Drawings from the Wakefield Collection' which toured multiple venues beginning with the Victoria and Albert Museum in December 1947 through Australia, New Zealand and Fiji, ending in November of 1950; 'R.T. Cowern: A Retrospective' was held at the Royal West of England Academy in Bristol (in January 1988); Oxford University hosted an exhibition at the Stables Gallery of Green College titled, 'A Final Flowering of the Modern British Etching Tradition: All the etchings of R.T. Cowern, RA, RE, together with selections of works by his teachers and fellow students at the Royal College of Art 1930-1940' (June 24 to July 6, 1996); an exhibition of his work was held at the Royal Academy in 2004; an exhibition in Birmingham in 2006 marked the acquisition of over 150 of his pieces for the city; an earlier exhibition of his work was shown in the city in 1988 as 'Two Birmingham painter-etchers: R.T. Cowern (1913-1986) and H.A. Freeth (1912-1986) ; an exhibition of etchings and drawings' with a catalogue essay by Stephen Wildman. Public collections in the UK holding his works include the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Wakefield Collection, the UK Government Art Collection, the Aldrich Collection at the University of Brighton, and the Royal West of England Academy Museum Collection. Highly detailed paintings and etchings of architectural and rural subjects were a specialty of the artist, exemplified in a suite of etchings owned by the Whitworth Art Gallery in Manchester. His works have been offered at some of the leading English auction houses including Bonham's (considered a formidable international competitor of Christie's and Sotheby's) and Rosebery's.

Antiques.co.uk Ref: 3KFANDEM

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