Sassoons Art

Siegfried Sassoon

Siegfried Sassoon’s talent as a sketch artist may not be as well known as his written work. He created watercolour paintings, caricatures, bookplates and other illustrations. Often he painted pictures on the title pages of books to enhance them. He sketched caricatures of close friends, and also of people he liked very much less!

Presented here are a few examples of the type of work he created, these pictures are not in my possession. They come mainly from auction catalogues but each one is acknowledged. (Any framing is mine).

‘Huntsman Jumping a Fence’ What could be more representative or more typical of Siegfried Sassoon than a fox-hunting man? This pen and black ink, watercolour, and bodycolour drawing is dated 1915 and signed by Sassoon in the lower right hand corner.

The picture was catalogued as a sporting watercolour by Sassoon, probably of himself on ‘Cockbird’ his favourite hunter. The catalogue was prepared by Christies for a sale of books from the Library of Lady Ottoline Morrell in November 2006.

Below: Six pen and watercolour sketches all from the Christies, Library of Lady Ottoline Morrell sale in November 2006




Ruins in a Landscape with Figures



		Love’s Golgotha



	Landscape with Reclining Figures




Poeme de L’extase



		Two Nude Male Figures



	Mors Janua Vitae

The following sketches are from the Sotheby’s catalogue for their auction of English Literature and History, held in July 1991. The sketches all feature members of the Sitwell family, Edith, Osbert and Sacheverell, who were (from time to time) good friends of Sassoon.




Above: While Sassoon was at Craiglockhart Hospital in 1917, Edith Sitwell sent him a number of copies of her book, ‘Wheels.’ “We send you our book as a tribute,” she wrote, dating it 30 August 1917. Sassoon signed the book with a note “sent me by the Sitwells.” He also drew this watercolour caricature of the Sitwells in the second volume.




				Above and below: Two caricatures from a series of 118 representing members of the Sitwell family.



	Left: a caricature of Edith Sitwell which Sassoon pasted into a copy of her book ‘Aspects of Modern Poetry.’ by this time the friends had fallen out.

Below: Six small mongramed bookplates drawn by Sassoon on books he once owned and auctioned by Sotheby’s in July 1991




	Watercolour drawing in a copy of Shakespeare’s ‘Plays and Poems’



		Watercolour bookplate in a copy of Woodforde’s ‘Diary.’




	Circular watercolour bookplate in a copy of ‘Poems’ by Milton.



			Watercolour drawing in a copy of a book by Robert Browning.




	Watercolour bookplate on the works of ‘Fitzgerald.’



		Watercolour bookplate from unknown book.




		Watercolour sketch painted on the title page of ‘Memories of Racing and Hunting,’ by The Duke of Portland.




	Watercolour drawing on Heytesbury House note paper showing a bird in a tree incorporating the words ‘Many Happy Returns of the Day.’




	Two sketches by Sassoon of Wyndham Lewis pasted into his book ‘One Way Song,’ and auctioned in the Sotheby’s sale of 1991. On the left sassoon has added the caption “As, perhaps, seen by himself.” Above he has captioned his sketch, ”Mr Lewis as I remember him.”


	A charming watercolour drawing by Sassoon on the half-title of the first volume of Max Beerbohm’s ‘Works.’ The painting is dated 23 June 1940, showing the spines of the full set, with the initials “S” and “M.” The painting also incorporates a previously unpublished autograph epigram. Sotheby’s, 1991.

The following items are held by the University of Texas at Austin, as part of their large Siegfried Sassoon collection. These pictures were published in the university’s volume ‘Siegfried Sassoon: A Memorial Exhibition.’




Above and right: Both of these items are from “Emblems” a manuscript notebook, dated September 1941.



	Above and below: The Old Century, 1938 proof copy, watercolour embellishment






				Above: A pen and wash drawing in a letter from Sassoon to Edmund Blunden, 31 July 1934.



	Above: another verse from the manuscript notebook “Emblems,” September 1941.

Sassoon’s Art - when I first created this web site it was with a view to putting online the complete bibliography of Siegfried Sassoon. I believe that I have now done this, however, my interest in the man is such that I have found that I want to continue to add more and more content to the site relating to Sassoon, and additional pages can already be found relating to his home, his childhood, his friends and acquaintances and his art, the list goes on and as long as it does, I will keep adding to the site.

One amazing piece of good fortune that I experienced was to be able to make contact with Robert Pulvertaft, the stepson of George Sassoon, Siegfried’s only son. Robert has been extremely generous in allowing me to showcase on this web site four pieces of Siegfried Sassoon’s art which had never before been seen in the public domain. Click the images on the right

[Home Page] [Sassoon Books] [Contributions] [Catalogues] [About Sassoon] [Modern Day] [Periodicals] [Book Reviews] [Music] [His Library] [Sassoon] [Sassoons Art] [Protest] [Keynes] [Robert Ross] [Crosland] [Massingham] [Robert Graves] [Norman Loder] [Hester Gatty] [Ottoline] [Two Aunts] [Godbert's] [Hospital 1916] [Poems] [Popular Poems] [Edingthorpe] [1924 Road Trip] [Letters] [Heytesbury] [Mells] [America] [Who Was Whom?] [Contact] [Links]