Graham Sutherland - ACE003.4

Recent work and its influences: palm trees and their leaves and branches. The tropical gardens of the Ephrussi Rothschild Museum, St Paul-de-Vence, Cap Ferrat. Sutherland in his studio looking at thorny plant; paintings showing similar images. Sutherland among the tall grasses of the valley of the river Var; a sketch. Film of W Somerset Maugham talking as he sits for Sutherland. The resulting portrait, William Somerset Maugham (1949). William Maxwell Aitken, 1st Baron Beaverbrook (1952). The Maugham portrait. Landscape painting. Study of a Palm Tree, Palm on Wall (1948), Palm Palisade 1947-8, Study of a Hanging Maize, Still Life with Gourds, Banana Leaf and Landscape. Pictures influenced by the structure of insects. Sutherland standing in front of a huge ivy-covered wall. Sutherland in his garden. He says that "to try to express in words the equivalent of the look one wants in paint almost invariably ends in failure because words and painting are really separate means of expression." He says that he has sometimes tried to give clues to his work but often wishes afterwards that he hadn’t. He describes how he sees things when he goes for a country walk, how ideas are generated, how he tries to capture his original response to seeing objects, his fascination with organic forms,. VO continues of views of some of his paintings. Commentary continues over shots of paintings. Sutherland painting. The End.