D. H. Lawrence Art
Collection
1903-30, n.d.
1 box, 7 paintings (5
framed), 1 sculpture, 2 bound volumes, 2 custom housings (46 items)
Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center,
The University of Texas at Austin
Lawrence, D. H. (David Herbert),
1885-1930
The collection consists of art works by
D. H. Lawrence including oil paintings on canvas, works in other media,
facsimile prints, and sketches by D. H. Lawrence and Knud Merrild. Also
included in the collection are works by other artists including Collingwood
Gee, Kai Gotzsche, Knud Merrild, and Justin Murray, and Jo Davidson
Acquisition:
Purchases (R1456, R2030, R2054, R3984, R4060, R4228, R5089, R5180,
R5331), and gift (1974)
Access:
A minimum of twenty-four hours is required to pull art materials to
the Reading Room.
Processed by:
Alice Egan, 1997, and Helen Young, 2001
Biographical Sketch
David Herbert Richards Lawrence was born September 11, 1885, in
Eastwood, near Nottingham, to Arthur Lawrence, a coal miner, and Lydia
Beardsall. He attended Nottingham University College, and in 1908 he took a
teaching position at Davidson Road School in Croydon. Lawrence wrote in his
spare time, and in 1911, with the help of Ford Maddox Hueffer, he published his
first novel,
The White Peacock. Poor health forced him
to resign his teaching job this same year, at which time he became a full-time
writer. He soon published
The Trespasser (1912) and
Sons and Lovers (1913).
While on a visit to Germany in 1912, he met Frieda von Richthofen, the
wife of Nottingham University College professor, Ernest Weekly. The two
traveled through Germany and Switzerland, and rented a room in Riva, Austria,
near the Italian border. They returned to England in 1914, and were married
shortly thereafter in London. The years of World War I were spent in the London
area, and then in Zennor, Cornwall. They left England in 1919, first going to
Florence, and then to other parts of Italy. In 1922, following a trip to Ceylon
and Australia, the couple settled in Taos, New Mexico, at the invitation of the
arts patron, Mabel Dodge Luhan. In Taos they lived on a ranch with Dorothy
Brett, an English painter, and became friends with the painters Knud Merrild
and Walter Ufer. Lawrence returned to Italy in 1925, and for the next five
years he also spent time traveling around Italy, Switzerland, Germany, and
Spain. During this time he published
Lady Chatterley's Lover (1928), which was
attacked by the press, and copies were seized by the police. At the end of the
following year, Lawrence moved to the south of France. He died at a clinic in
Vence, France, on March 2, 1930.
Aside from one lesson in painting from George Leighton Parkinson, D.
H. Lawrence did not have formal art training beyond the basic teachings he
received as a schoolboy. His early works were copies of others' works, created
as gifts for his family or friends. Lawrence did not have much opportunity to
view original works of art while he was growing up; his exposure to art was
mainly through reproductions in magazines, books, calendars, and postcards. In
1906 he received as a birthday gift from the family of his friend, Jessie
Chambers, six of the eight parts of
English Water-colour: with Reproductions of
Drawings by Eminent Painters (London: The Studio, 1902), which were
accompanied by a portfolio of facsimiles of the art works. From these
facsimiles, Lawrence became more familiar with different watercolor techniques.
From that time on Lawrence continued painting and studying art, and even taught
art while employed as a teacher in Croydon.
While Lawrence was in Florence in 1926, Maria Huxley brought him four
blank canvases, which inspired Lawrence to begin a series of original works. In
1929 he held an exhibition of his paintings at the Warren Gallery in London,
but Scotland Yard confiscated thirteen of the paintings because they were
considered to be obscene. Facsimiles of the exhibited paintings were published
in
The Paintings of D. H. Lawrence (1929).
Lawrence also published an essay about his paintings,
Making Pictures, in
The Studio (July 1929).
Sources:
D. H. Lawrence & the Visual Arts.
(1985). Nottingham: Castle Museum.
Aldington, R. David Herbert Lawrence. (1937). In J. R. H. Weaver
(Ed.),
The Dictionary of National Biography,
1922-1930 (pp. 492-494). London: Oxford University Press.
Lawrence, D. H. (1964).
Paintings of D. H. Lawrence (London: Cory,
Adams & Mackay.
Merrild, K. (1938).
A Poet and Two Painters. London: G.
Routledge & Sons.
Scope and Contents
The Collection consists of art works by D. H. Lawrence, as well as
works by other artists that relate to Lawrence. It is organized into two
Series: I. Works by D. H. Lawrence, and II. Works by Other Artists. Titles of
Lawrence's oil paintings are taken from his
Paintings by D. H. Lawrence, edited by
Mervyn Levy (1964). Other titles are transcribed from the items; cataloger's
titles appear in brackets.
Series I., Works by D. H. Lawrence, is subdivided into A. Oil
Paintings on Canvas; B. Works in Other Media; C. Facsimile Prints; and D.
Sketches by D. H. Lawrence and Knud Merrild. Works are organized by accession
number within each subseries. The 27 original works by D. H. Lawrence were
created between 1903 and 1929 and include oil paintings, watercolor paintings,
and drawings. Of the four oil paintings in the collection, two (
Boccaccio Story and
Resurrection) were exhibited in the 1928
Warren Gallery exhibition;
Boccaccio Story was one of the paintings
confiscated by Scotland Yard. Early works include a watercolor with German text
painted for his Davidson Road School student, J. Adderley; two watercolors
painted in the autograph album of a Davidson Road School colleague named Smith;
and a watercolor seascape painted for his friend, Mary Goddard.
The series also contains paintings on porcelain push plates, two of
which were presented to his friend, Kitty Holderness, daughter of George
Holderness, the head-master of the British Schools in Eastwood where Lawrence
was a Pupil Teacher. Additionally, the collection has Kitty Holderness'
autograph album, which includes a watercolor landscape and inscription from
Lawrence.
Also present are a number of works created for various literary works.
There is a group of five sheets of rough sketches done in Taos by D. H.
Lawrence and the Danish artist Knud Merrild of designs for dust jackets and
book ornaments for
Kangaroo, Studies in Classic American
Literature, and
Birds, Beasts and Flowers. (Merrild
describes this collaboration in his 1938 book
A Poet and Two Painters.) Other works by
Lawrence include sketches for
Sons and Lovers, tailpiece designs for
The Escaped Cock, and a watercolor
illustration to the traditional ballad
The Two Magicians (or
Coal-black smith).
Works by Other Artists are listed alphabetically by creator and
include portraits of Lawrence by Collingwood Gee, Kai Gotzsche, Knud Merrild,
and Justin Murray, and a bronze sculpture bust of Lawrence by Jo Davidson.
There is also a bas relief in wood by M. F. K. Fisher of Lawrence's emblem, the
phoenix, and a proof of a wood engraving by Blair Hughes-Stanton created for
the 1930 Cresset Press edition of
Birds, Beasts and Flowers.
Other Lawrence-related works are held by the Ransom Center's Art
Collection: a watercolor and an ink and pencil drawing by Frieda Lawrence (Spud
Johnson Collection); a watercolor and an embroidery canvas by Frieda Lawrence
in a frame built by D. H. Lawrence (William Goyen Collection); an oil painting
portrait and a woodcut portrait, both of Lawrence, by Dorothy Brett (Dorothy
Brett Collection); a portrait drawing by Peter Evershed of Frieda Lawrence
(Peter Evershed Collection); and a pencil drawing of Frieda Lawrence (Georges
Schreiber Collection). The Ransom Center also has extensive D. H. Lawrence
materials in its Manuscripts Collection, its Library, and its Photography
Collection.
D. H. Lawrence Art Collection--Item List
I. Works by D. H. Lawrence,
1903-1929, n.d.
A. Oil Paintings on Canvas
FAC vault shelf
Lawrence, D. H.
Villa Mirenda.
1927
painting (oil on canvas) 49.3 x 40.6
cm.
65.156
FAC vault shelf
Lawrence, D. H.
Jaguar Leaping at a Man.
ca. 1928
painting (oil on canvas) 37.6 x 72.4
cm.
65.215
FAC vault F12-C-A
Lawrence, D. H.
Boccaccio Story.
1927
painting (oil on canvas) 71.8 x 118.5
cm.
65.242
FAC vault F12-C-A
Lawrence, D. H.
Resurrection.
1927
painting (oil on canvas) 83.5 x 94
cm.
65.309
B. Works in Other Media
1
1
Lawrence, D. H.
Am Abend wird man klug... [landscape with marshy
shore, fishing boat: painting mounted on sheet with German poem by Friedrich
Rückert].
1909
painting (watercolor) 8.8 x 14
cm.
65.160
1
2
Lawrence, D. H.
[Landscape with shepherd, sheep, trees].
ca. 1908
painting (watercolor) 29.4 x 39.4
cm.
65.397.6
1
3
Lawrence, D. H.
Illustration to the "Coal-black smith."
ca. 1912
painting (watercolor) 26.7 x 34.9
cm.
68.50
custom box, 7th floor hall
Lawrence, D. H.
[Pink and purple roses; Red roses: designs on
porcelain push plates].
1906
2 paintings diam. image 14
cm.
70.18.1-.2
bound vol., 7th floor hall
Lawrence, D. H.
"No endeavour is in vain Its reward is in the doing."
[Landscape with deer, trees, painted on leaf detached from Smith's autograph
album].
1905
drawing (ink) 17 x 13.5
cm
70.32a
bound vol., 7th floor hall.
Lawrence, D. H.
"Labor Omnia Vincit, C. M. Burrows" [armorial device
within ornamental border of fruits, angel, snake, landscape with Dutch
windmill, and landscape with boat; detached from Smith's autograph
album].
1905
painting (watercolor) 17.5 x 13.2
cm.
70.32b
1
4
Lawrence, D. H.
"He that loves a rosy cheek." [Seascape with boats,
above poem on recto; sketch of flowers on verso].
ca. 1903
painting (watercolor) 16.3 x 15.5
cm.
70.39
1
5
Lawrence, D. H.
[Profile of a tiger's head].
n.d.
drawing (pencil with watercolor) 29.1 x
22.8 cm.
72.86
bound vol., 7th floor hall
Lawrence, D. H.
"Que m'importe que tu sois sage Sois belle et sois
triste." [Landscape with trees, stream of water, painted on leaf in Kitty
Holderness' autograph album].
191-?
painting (watercolor) 16.7 x 22.2
cm.
73.501.42
custom box, 7th floor hall
Lawrence, D. H. (attr.
to)
[Violets, with Latin inscription on verso; Rose, paper
glued to verso: floral designs on porcelain push plates].
n.d.
2 paintings diam. images 10 cm. and 10.1
cm.
74.179.a-.b
1
6
Lawrence, D. H.
[Dutch windmill].
1905
painting (watercolor) 9.7 x 14.7
cm.
75.56
1
7
Lawrence, D. H.
Motives for end-pieces.
1929?
2 drawings (watercolor) 12.5 x 20.8
cm.
81.34.1-.2
1
8
Lawrence, D. H. (attr.
to)
Palms Poems [cover design for
Palms (periodical)].
n.d.
painting (watercolor) 21.4 x 14.5
cm.
81.34.3
1
9
Lawrence, D. H.
[Coal cars: sketch of coal cars, for
Sons and Lovers].
ca. 1913
drawing (pencil) 15 x 21
cm.
81.34.4
1
10
Lawrence, D. H.
Sons and Lovers [design for illustration with text,
with coal cars].
ca. 1913
sketch (pencil) 20.5 x 13.3
cm.
81.34.5
1
11
Lawrence, D. H.
The Escaped Cock [title page design mounted onto
letterpress pages 286-296 detached from
The Forum, 1928 Feb., v. 79
#2].
1928
drawing (watercolor) 23 x 14.5
cm.
81.34.6
C. Facsimile Prints
1
12-15
Lawrence, D. H.
[Boccaccio Story; Leda; Spring; Dance Sketch: proofs
from
Paintings of D. H. Lawrence
(Mandrake Press, 1929)].
1929
4 reproductive prints, col. 36.2 x 26.5 cm.
or smaller
75.49.1-4
1
16
Lawrence, D. H.
Dance Sketch [proof from
Paintings of D. H. Lawrence
(Mandrake Press, 1929)].
1929
reproductive print, col. 26 x 30.1
cm.
75.503
D. Group of Sketches by D. H. Lawrence and Knud
Merrild
1
17
Lawrence, D. H., and Knud
Merrild
Studies in Classic American Literature;
Kangaroo.
1922
2 sketches on 1 sheet (pencil) 27.7 x 21.3
cm.
65.397.1.1-.2
1
18
Lawrence, D. H.
Birds Beasts and Flowers.
1922
drawing (pencil) 21.3 x 16.5
cm.
65.397.2
1
19
Merrild, Knud
Kangaroo.
1922
2 sketches on 1 sheet (pencil) 21.2 x 15.3
cm.
65.397.3.1-.2
1
20
Lawrence, D. H.
Flowers, salvia hibiscus almond cyclamens.
1922
2 sketches on 1 sheet (ink) 21.2 x 16.4
cm.
65.397.4
1
21
Lawrence, D. H.
Trees.
1922
2 sketches on 1 sheet (ink) 21.2 x 16.3
cm.
65.397.5
II. Works by Other Artists,
1922-1930, n.d.
5
202
Davidson, Jo
D. H. Lawrence [portrait bust].
1930
sculpture (bronze) 45 cm. high on base 9.5 x
21 x 17.8 cm.
65.104
FAC F12-C-A
Fisher, M. F. K.
Lawrence [phoenix rising from flames].
n.d.
bas relief on wood 24.7 x 20
cm.
74.176
FAC vault F3-A-B
Gee, Collingwood
[D. H. Lawrence reading to Reggie Turner, Norman
Douglas, and Pino Orioli].
n.d.
painting (oil on canvas) 53.5 x 73.5
cm.
67.43
FAC F3-A-B
Gotzsche, Kai
[D. H. Lawrence, seated].
ca. 1922
painting (oil on canvas) 90.5 x 69.8
cm.
65.89
1
22
Hughes-Stanton, Blair
Title: Birds, Beasts and Flowers by D. H. Lawrence
[illustration appearing on p. 62 of the 1930 Cresset Press
edition].
1930 or earlier
print (wood engraving) 30.5 x 18.2
cm.
85.49
1
23
Merrild, Knud
D. H. Lawrence [head and shoulders
portrait].
n.d.
drawing (pencil) 14.1 x 10
cm.
65.497.1
1
24
Merrild, Knud
[D. H. Lawrence: head portrait with hat].
n.d.
drawing (pencil) 12.6 x 10.2
cm.
65.497.2
1
25
Merrild, Knud
The Serapi [D. H. Lawrence: head portrait with
hat].
n.d.
drawing (pencil) 12.6 x 10.6
cm.
65.497.3
1
26
Merrild, Knud
D. H. L. dark mysterious within himself.
1923
drawing (ink) 10.3 x 9.8
cm.
72.60
1
27
Merrild, Knud
D. H. Lawrence [head profile].
n.d.
drawing (pencil) 13.9 x 10.9
cm.
72.69
1
28
Merrild, Knud
[D. H. Lawrence, seated, with dog in lap].
n.d.
drawing (pencil) 13.1 x 6.8
cm.
74.36
1
29
Murray, Justin
[D. H. Lawrence; caricature].
n.d.
drawing (ink) 50.4 x 23.8
cm.
68.70
1
30
Unidentified
Loyal Bidileas Trvsty [coat of arms design].
n.d.
painting (gouache) 25.6 x 23.3
cm.
73.505