ALEXANDER COZENS (1717 -1786)

Woodland Scene with Thorn-tree

c.1785

brown ink on paper,

15.2 X 22 cm

inscribed: Thorn 22

P.446

In about 1785, Cozens published his treatise on a method of composing the ideal landscape entitled A New Method of Assisting the Invention in Drawing Original Compositions of Landscapes. Within the introduction he states: ‘I am persuaded, that some instantaneous method of bringing forth the conception of an ideal subject fully to the view (through the crudest manner) would promote original composition in painting; and that the want of some such method has retarded the progress of it more than impotence of execution’. The treatise clarified the accidental ‘blot’ paintings, which Cozens had invented as a method to release the creativity within his students. They were made with a soft brush and ink made to his own recipe; he would apply random blots and then create the ideal landscape from the result, either by enhancing the composition or transferring it to another piece of paper. He painted almost entirely in monochrome, which provided even greater contrasts and enhanced the Romantic landscape.

CB

PROVENANCE: H.N. Squire; Maas Gallery, from whom purchased by Gallery, March 1963.

EXHIBITIONS: Spring Exhibition, London, Maas Gallery, 1963, no.24.

copyright © Trustees of Cecil Higgins Art Gallery, Bedford.

Extract taken from Watercolours and Drawings, Cecil Higgins Art Gallery by Evelyn Joll.

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