478. JOHN BROMFIELD `BROM` GAY-REES (1912-1965). VIEW FROM A WINDOW.

Signed and dated 19.VI.40, mixed media on paper
67.5 x 51.5cm.
Provenance: The family of the artist
* The Welsh artist - a friend of Dylan Thomas, William Rothenstein, Augustus John, Carel Weight and William Scott - showed exceptional promise but he only flirted with the commercial demands of the art market and rarely showed his work. Beset by poor health all his life, his art shows the influence of diverse peers. David Jones's style is apparent in this lot, and he embraces Jones's Christian doctrine of `the universal things showing through the particular`, despite Brom himself being a staunch atheist. The oil painting (lot 502) is evidently derived from themes by Picasso and Braque formulated in the 1920s but Brom's poor health prevented his travel abroad.