George Owen Wynne Apperley

GEORGE OWEN WYNNE APPERLEY (1884-1960).
Untitled.
Oil on canvas.
Presents damage to the frame.
Signed in the lower left corner.
Measurements: 61 x 51 cm; 80 x 70 cm (frame).
The painting of George Owen, always had as protagonist the woman, in many occasions it was Andalusian women, although he also dealt extensively with the genre of the nude. In this case the author presents us with a specific portrait where he presents us with a mature and sensual woman, who directs her gaze at the viewer in a penetrating way. The woman with a haughty gesture and a half-smile is cut out in a background that adds majesty to the figure and gives greater prominence to the lady's body.
George Owen Wynne Apperley belonged to an aristocratic Welsh family, which allowed him a comfortable economic situation. From an early age he was attracted to painting and, opposing his family, he enrolled at the Herkomer Academy. His training was broadened by his trip to Italy, where he was captivated by the Mediterranean light and produced works on genre and landscape themes. After marrying secretly in 1907, he moved with his wife to Lugano (Switzerland), then returned to London. In 1914 he traveled to Spain, and settled permanently in Madrid two years later, to go a year later to Granada, where he settled, where he met local painters such as Francisco Soria Aedo and Lopez Mezquita. When the Second Republic was proclaimed, he moved to Tangier (Morocco), where he became interested in new orientalist themes, and where he died. His work could be contemplated in the different countries where he lived, being especially important an exhibition in 1918 inaugurated by King Alfonso XIII and Victoria Eugenia de Battemberg, moment from which his prestige increased. His work is preserved in important private collections and institutions such as the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, the Museum of Malaga, the Palace Art Museum in Brussels, the Municipal Museum of Fine Arts of Tandil in Buenos Aires (Argentina), the Sydney Museum (Australia), etc.