Things Left Unsaid. Percy Wyndham Lewis, Iris Barry, Helen Saunders and the story of Praxitella

22 Jun-5 Nov 2023

Wyndham Lewis, Praxitella, 1921, oil on canvas. Credit: Leeds Museums and Galleries (gift of the Contemporary Art Society, 1945) copyright The Artist's Estate. All Rights Reserved 2013 / Bridgeman Art Library.

Overview

Wyndham Lewis said it took him the strength of seventeen water buffaloes to paint Praxitella, one of the most iconic and enigmatic 'portraits' of the early 20th century. Over 100 years after it was first shown in the exhibition 'Portraits and Tyros' in 1921, Lewis's painting was subject to investigation at Courtauld Conservation which revealed startling outcomes. This focused exhibition tells that story, the people involved in its making, some whose voices have been eclipsed, and looks at the wider social terrain to ask how it affects its meaning for us today.

Artists