A Crowded Street - [Watercolour, Pen & Ink Drawing] by Harold Hope Read (1881-1959)

A crowded London street scene in winter with groups of fashionably dressed men and women huddled together in social gossip. The ladies are all dressed in 1920s overcoats and hats. - Unsigned; on wove paper. - Condition: there's light discolouration to the page, a number of pinhole marks and creasing to the corners. Overall the appearance is very good. -
Size: 7.8" x 9.6"; sheet: 8.4" x 10.1". -
Provenance: ex collection of the artist's lover, model and housekeeper, Hilda; given to Hilda's nephew Dennis A.S. Hopper upon Hilda's death; given to Douglas James Hopper (Hilda's great nephew) upon his father Dennis's death. - Comes with a Certificate of Authenticity from a British art dealer. -
Early 20th century British artist who was quite skilled in a variety of (often combined) drawing techniques. A huge part of the many graphite, charcoal, watercolour and ink drawings of the artist has only recently been brought into the open. - During the years in Tunbridge Wells (Kent; early 1930s - 1959), Hope Read lived an avant-garde lifestyle with his live-in housekeeper, life model and mistress, who we know only as Hilda; here they lived in the basement flat of a modest detached Victorian villa. - More biographical info is rapidly found at 'haroldhoperead.org.uk'.