The Old Glass Vase

Location

Country: Singapore
City: Singapore
Place: British High Commission

Everyday interior decoration items, reflective of an early 1950s domestic setting, are brought together to form the subject of this still life titled after the old glass vase in the left middle-ground. The warm red and soft pink of the draped textiles contrast with the hard surfaces of a small ashtray, bronze bowl, cut glass vase and green bottle. Two sports figurines wearing 1940s clothing and hairstyles contribute to the period feel of the painting. Hugh Micklem was still studying at both the Central School of Arts and Crafts and Westminster School of Art when he was called to serve in the Second World War. The prominence of objects in this painting reflects Micklem’s interest in design which he pursued at the Harrow School of Art at the close of the war.

Places

Subjects

figurine (as Subject), vase (as Subject), book, football, still life, petal, flower, plant pot, bottle, bowl, window, curtain

Materials & Techniques

canvas, oil, oil painting

Artist

Hugh Micklem (1918 - 2009)

Title

The Old Glass Vase

Date

1953

Medium

Oil on canvas

Dimensions

height: 76.50 cm, width: 56.00 cm

Acquisition

Purchased from Cooling Galleries, October 1955

Inscription

bl: Hugh Micklem 53

GAC number

3349