FREDERIC JOHN LLOYD STREVENS

FREDERIC JOHN LLOYD STREVENS

Born in 1902

Title: "Picnic Parisienne"

Date: circa 1930

Size: Height 25 ó inches Width 29 ó inches (framed)

Frederic John Lloyd Streven's wonderful paintings of Paris at the turn of this century are justly

admired for portraying the very essence of Parisian life. Born in London in 1902, John Strevens

attended classes at the Regent Street Polytechnic and later at Heatherley’s. 1943 marked a

turning point in John Strevens’s career with his first one-man show off Bond Street and by 1947

paintings such as The Three Princesses, depicting his daughters Jo, Vicky and Ginny, which

were exhibited at the Royal Academy earned him public acclaim. From then on he exhibited

regularly at the Royal Academy, the Royal Society of British Artists, the Royal Society of

Portrait Painters and the Paris Salon.

Not long after the death of his first wife, the novelist Jane Cooper Strevens, he married a young

native of Barcelona, Julia Marzo. In 1957 he set off with his three daughters and his new wife

and baby daughter on the first of several trips across France to Spain which were to inspire

subjects for more London exhibitions. 1961 saw his first trip to the USA and the beginning of an

enthusiastic reception from American art collectors. Leaving a Kensington flat and studio for a

quieter house and garden in Loughton, Essex, (near family roots) in 1963, John Strevens

continued to support his family painting portraits and colourful romantic fantasies of women,

children and flowers. A new life-long working relationship began in the late 1960s when the art

dealer Kurt E. Schon of New Orleans tracked the artist down after seeing The Woman in Black

in the International Directory of Art. Well into his 80s, John Strevens would travel to the U.S. to

meet collectors and paint portrait commissions from life. But his book-lined and music-filled

studio at the end of the garden of his home in Loughton, Essex, continued to provide a refuge

and his main source of his inspiration until the end of his life.

As with Luigi Loir and Eugene Galien-Laloue, Strevens painted views of Paris in a manner

which carefully and intimately observed the subject matter with a directness of execution which

depicted both the freshness of atmosphere and the magic of colour and light. This present

composition is quintessential Strevens - a lively Paris picnic scene with elegant gentlemen and

ladies -- allowing one to catch a glimpse of elegant Parisiennes - a view which has captured the

imagination of many through the decades. This wonderful example of Streven’s work is signed

and signed and inscribed verso and is presented in pristine condition.