1st October 1929, by Cedric Morris
Gainsborough’s House
Sudbury, UK
gainsborough.org
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Cedric Morris (1889-1982), 1st October 1929, 1929
Oil on canvas
Presented by Maggi Hambling and Robert Davey, trustees of the artist’s estate, 2017.
2017.014 © Gainsborough’s House, Sudbury
Text : Mahaut de La Motte-Broöns, Assistant Curator, Gainsborough’s House.
Birds were one of Morris’s favourite subject matters. In the painting, Morris managed to capture, through the use of impasto, the texture of the pheasant’s feathers. The title of this painting indicates the first day of pheasant shooting season. The oversized upside-down body of the pheasant partially obscures the landscape in the background. Its carcass dominates the entire composition with its tail feathers extending past the top of the canvas and its head twisted to a profile position. Morris routinely criticised the cruelty of animals through his painting. This image of a dead pheasant was probably painted in Long Melford – a village in Suffolk, as the writing on its back indicates. Early in 1929 (the year when the work was executed) Cedric and his partner, Arthur Lett-Haines took out a lease of Pound Farm in Suffolk. Later, they opened the East Anglian School of Painting and Drawing for professional and amateur artists alike.
