Nicholas Holloway
Fine Art
Sargy Mann (1937-2015)
The Beginning of the Viale, Casole
Signed, lower left
Inscribed with title to the reverse
Oil on canvas
39 x 52 inches
Provenance: Cadogan Contemporary
Private Collection
Price on application
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Sargy made several visits to Italy throughout his life; he found the strength of the light there facilitated his ability to paint with his diminishing eyesight. This area of Tuscany features in several works from the early 2000s and this painting closely relates to The Track Down to Maria’s – Casole, 2002. Recounting this period he recalled,
‘At lunch that day when I was looking along the table with the back of the house on my right casting its shadow over my family but with just about everything else lit up by the high strong sun, I realised that this was what I wanted to paint, the most enjoyable part of each day, having meals with my family in this small space in this wonderful light.’
Peter and Sargy Mann, Sargy Mann: Probably the best Blind Painter in Peckham, 2020
With many thanks to Peter Mann at the Sargy Mann Archive for his help in cataloguing this painting.
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Sargy Mann was born in Hythe, Kent in 1937. He studied at the Camberwell School of Art and then returned to the school as a lecturer from 1969-1988. He held a number of other academic and curatorial positions including, co-curator of the "Bonnard at le Bosquest" exhibition at the Hayward Gallery (1994) and Visiting lecturer at the Prince's Drawing School (1999-2008). He exhibited extensively at the Royal Academy, Royal College of Art and the Mall Galleries.
Sargy was diagnosed with cataracts at the age of 36 and ultimately lost his sight but continued to paint and exhibit to astonishing effect for the last 25 years of his life.
His obituary can be read here and further information on Sargy can be found at the sargymannarchive.com