Lot 2135
‡SIR GERALD FESTUS KELLY, PRA (1879-1972)
NEAC THUL V, CAMBODIAN DANCER, c.1936
Inscribed with title on canvas edge and on the stretcher, oil on canvas
67 x 79cm.
* Kelly's Oriental subjects were hugely popular amongst collectors of popular prints. He first painted these themes on a visit to Burma in 1908-1909, where he was `sponsored` by W. Somerset Maugham (who used Kelly as a character in various novels and stories). Kelly returned to the region in 1936.
Kenneth Clark described Kelly as `the most reliable portrait painter of his time` and Clive Bell rated him as `about the best President of the Royal Academy since Sir Joshua Reynolds.`
