Tuesday, March 29, 2022

a painted quartet

Back in February, I spotted a painting of a string quartet in the window of a charity shop and was almost tempted to buy it. It was a bit more expensive than the sort of stuff I might buy spontaneously, so I didn't and just took a few photos. There were other items blocking the view, so here's the best angle I could get:

I also took a separate photo of the artist's signature, which I only deciphered weeks later, it's Bernard Dunstan. Now it turns out Dunstan was a very prolific and successful painter who died in 2017, aged 97, see his obituary in the Guardian. Apparently he often painted musicians playing, along with the usual sujets such as nudes and Venice.

All of which means, assuming that this was an original painting rather than a print, I really should have bought it on the spot. It was too expensive for a print but would have been a very attractive price for a painting from a recognised artist. Even though his style reminds me of Bonnard, whose work I don't really like that much.

Another reason why this painting has been stuck in my brain for weeks now is that it made me think - using the three photos we have of Heinrich's string quartet, maybe an artist could create a vision of the quartet playing? Does anybody know any artists who might be up to the task?

Update 23.11.2022 Another image search washed up one that I quite like, by Artist Jack Levine:

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