Portrait of a Man (possibly William Gear), circa 1947
This portrait was painted in the 1940s and is untitled, but it bears a striking resemblance to abstract artist William Gear. Edwin Lucas and William Gear were both close friends of another abstract artist, Wilhelmina Barns-Graham, in the late 1930s and Edwin proceeded to sublet Barns-Graham's studio for a few years starting in 1939. He vacated the studio for a couple of years during the war, but returned there in 1944.
Meanwhile Gear joined the army and was posted to the Middle East, Italy and Germany. He returned to Scotland briefly when he was demobilised in 1947 and it's tempting to think he may have visited the studio where his friends worked before the war.
Meanwhile Gear joined the army and was posted to the Middle East, Italy and Germany. He returned to Scotland briefly when he was demobilised in 1947 and it's tempting to think he may have visited the studio where his friends worked before the war.
This is one of two of Edwin's paintings that were exhibited at the City Art Centre, Edinburgh, from October 2015 to February 2016 in an exhibition entitled Jagged Generation: William Gear’s Contemporaries and Influences. This exhibition accompanied a major retrospective of Gear's work, entitled William Gear (1915-1997): The Painter that Britain Forgot.