Rare, large original still life painting by acclaimed English film director James Whale, accomplished in oil on a 32 x 29.5 canvas panel, signed in the lower left corner in paint, "James Whale—56—." The painting is a classic still life study, a bouquet of multicolored flowers of varying blooms placed in a vase that is set on a wooden side table. Displayed in an ornate wooden frame to an overall size of 43 x 41. In fine condition, with varying degrees of chipping and cracking to the frame. The consignor notes that this painting was gifted by Whale to actress Mae Clark, who famously starred as Elizabeth Lavenza in Frankenstein.
After an influential and profitable 10-year run of filmmaking, including horror classics Frankenstein, The Old Dark House, The Invisible Man, and Bride of Frankenstein, Whale exited the full-time movie business in 1941. In his partial retirement—Whale made a couple of short films and an ephemeral return to Broadway—he was reintroduced to his love of painting by his longtime partner, producer David Lewis, and eventually built a large studio for himself. The Oscar-winning 1998 biopic Gods and Monsters, starring Ian McKellen as Whale, highlights the director’s love of drawing and painting. Given the artwork's date of 1956, this is likely one of the, if not the, last paintings Whale finished before his death the following year.
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