Anthony
Asquith
?
Elinor
M. Barnard - English watercolorist
ca. 1923?
Owner?
Watercolor
Size?
jpg: local
From: Joan Jackson
Joan Jackson @ JSS
Gallery.org
Date: Fri, 20 Aug
2004
This I believe to be
Anthony Asquith.
The portrait is of a
young man, I would say about 20-23. Anthony was known for his shock of
curly hair and as Paul Darby says "fought with it his whole life."
Also, the nose -- his mother called him Puffin because of it.
Note the Japanese drawing in the
background -- Elinor put oriental pieces in a lot of her backgrounds.
There is no date on the
photograph that I can observe. Elinor came to America last time that I
can document in 1914, but that is not to say that she did not go back
to England for a visit. Also, Anthony came to America after Oxford
and went out to Hollywood to learn the movie trade. He most likely
visited the family friend, Elinor, in New York when he docked in New
York. I suspect the
portrait was done ca. 1923.
Again, I am confident
that this is Anthony Asquith, but I will leave it up to you to decide
whether or not to put it on.
Joan
Sat, 21 Aug
2004
I
found that Anthony's mother, Margo Tennant Asquith, came to the US on a
lecture tour in 1921-2 ( See Literary Papers of Margot Asquith at the
Bodleian Library,
Oxford). It is possible that Anthony accompanied her and he visited
with his friend Elinor before going (by train)? out to California. He
would have been 20
then which appears to be about the right age for the subject in the
portrait.
By that time Elizabeth
was married and in Washington, DC. I have a copy of a letter written by
Elinor in 1922, to another client, stating that she was in Washington
painting the 21 month old Bibesco baby girl (that would be Priscilla
Bibesco Hodgson-I am trying to find that portrait).
The news article
concerning Elinor's death stated
that she had painted the children of H.H. Asquith. I assumed that the
portraits were done at the same time of young children. Well, this
shows that they were not.
Apparently Paul Darby did not take a photo of Singer's drawing of
Anthony when he was in Paris this May. I sent him a copy of the photo
to examine and he
could not identify it 100% as being Anthony.
It ceases to amaze me that so many little pieces of information coming
from divergent sources eventually come together with the story. I
suppose I am a "sleuthhound." Of course, the computer age has made this
all possible.
Tell me what you think!
Joan
From: Paul
Darby
(darby and
joan1@yahoo.com)
Date:
Tue, 24 Aug 2004
I am almost certain
that
Anthony Asquith did not travel with his mother to
America on her 1920 lecture tour. She writes in great
detail about the trip in "My Impressions of America"
(Doran, 1922). I took a quick look through the book
and in chapter three she writes about the John Sargent
frescos in the Boston Museum -
"It has a majesty of
design, glory of drawing, and originality of
conception unequalled by anything in Europe". She
writes of the work for 1 1/2 pages - quite the longest
time in any of her books where she isn't writing about
herself (of Margot's Autobiography, Dorothy Parker
famously wrote - "Two volumes, suitable for
throwing").
On the other hand I
know that Anthony did
visit Hollywood about this time (as did his sister
Elizabeth). He must have travelled over on his own
during the school holidays. I bet you could find a
time-line on this visit in the biography of Anthony
Asquith ("Puffin Asquith", 1973). Regards, Paul
Notes
Special thanks to Joan
Powell Jackson,
of San Antonio, Texas. but originally from New Orleans, for being
a friend of
the
JSS Gallery, and for sending the photo of this painting along with
information
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