Page 77 - Swann Galleries - 20th Century Illustration - Sale 2300 - January 24, 2013

UNFINISHED BOOK PROJECT
133 ● EDWARD J. DETMOLD. The Truth.
A suite of 19 drawings with typed text on verso of 4. Comprising 11 watercolor and 8
wash designs, 5 incorporating text or captions, 7 titled or captioned below (1 above) in
pencil, some of the sheets mounted on paper. Each approximately 323x191 mm; 121/2x7
inches. Occasional scattered foxing and soiling. Circa 1933. [10,000/15,000]
AN UNRECORDED, UNIQUE SUITE OF DRAWINGS FOR A NEVER COMPLETED
ILLUSTRATED BOOK PROJECT. The work is alternatively titled The Truth (indicated in
manuscript on the accompanying card portfolio), Indictment of the Nations, and The Sword
and Gold.
Included are single sheets of Detmold’s typescript pasted to the back of four drawings that
articulate his concerns regarding the complicity of the State, Corporatism and Religion in
fomenting “The disruption which men are now experiencing, and will continue to experience
increasingly until this civilisation lies in ruins, is the aftermath of the inestimable force with
which it has been enforced upon the world.”
With the horrors of the “Great War” still fresh in mind as well as the advent of Fascism,
Detmold’s analysis would prove all too prescient in the coming years.The works include images
of war, triumphal statehood and religious authorities but also a few less-charged portrait and
nature studies more typical of his usual style. For Detmold, “The Truth” is, as he puts it, “to
realise that it is the teaching of peace and love; and therefore that violence and war are opposed
to it.” Provenance: from the Estate of Mrs. Joy, sister of E.J. Detmold. Sold at Christies King
Street, London. Lot 81, March 6th, 1979.