Parrot Tulips

Location

Country: Korea, Republic of (South Korea)
City: Seoul
Place: British Embassy

This still life of parrot tulips glowing a vibrant red, characterises the light, feathery technique with which Leonard Appelbee painted flowers. Despite using oil paint, this work appears almost as translucent as watercolour. This technique of painting in oils is particularly suited to capturing the delicate texture of the exotic bird-like petals and the crisp, fresh tissue paper from which these tulips have just been unwrapped.
During his career, Appelbee painted landscapes as well as still life. His interest in, and the appreciation of, light and texture, resonate with the experimentation of early modern French artists with modelling and space – particularly in the still life studies of Paul Cézanne (1839–1906).

Leonard Appelbee studied at Goldsmiths School and the Royal College of Art. He served in the army from 1940 to 1946 and had his first solo show at the Leicester Galleries in London in 1948. His work was exhibited regularly at the Royal Academy from 1947 to 1956. Appelbee painted a number of portraits of eminent people, receiving commissions from Eton College and Corpus Christi College in Cambridge. In 1970 he was awarded a silver medal at the Paris Salon and a book of his verse was published in 1980. His work is represented in the collections of the Arts Council, The Chantrey Bequest, Tate, Aberdeen Art Gallery and the National Gallery, Melbourne, Australia.

Places

Subjects

vase (as Subject), paper (as Subject), still life, tulip

Materials & Techniques

canvas, oil, oil painting

Artist

Leonard Appelbee (1914 - 2000)

Title

Parrot Tulips

Date

1950

Medium

Oil on canvas

Dimensions

height: 49.50 cm, width: 39.50 cm

Acquisition

Purchased from Leicester Galleries, September 1950

Inscription

BR: LA 50

Provenance

Consigned by the artist to Leicester Galleries, London; from whom purchased by the Ministry of Works in August 1950

GAC number

1157