Mary Swanzy HRHA (1882-1978) Figures Drinking Oil on board, 36.5 x 25cm (14.2 x 19.7'') Swanzy depicts three humorous or grimacing figures in close-up, crowded together and drinking. In several...

Mary Swanzy HRHA (1882-1978) Figures Drinking Oil on board, 36.5 x 25cm (14.2 x 19.7'') Swanzy depicts three humorous or grimacing figures in close-up, crowded together and drinking. In several of the painting of her middle or late period she created several such images of people seated at a table, or large humorous or grotesque faces close together. The present picture shows two women and a man socialising and drinking wine The bearded man in green jacket is talking or singing drunkenly, mouth open and eyes closed, while a wine glass and bottle tilt in his clumsy hands. Behind him, a large woman leans close to him, her smiling face half-obscured by a feathered hat, while wine spills from her glass. On the left a smiling woman can be seen in profile. She has blond hair, a prominent forehead, closed eyes, a snub nose and smiling lips. She turns back to look at the man, perhaps with indulgence. Because the faces are so close together, the setting of the picture is not clear. Perhaps the figures are set in the open-air, against a blue opening sky. Its in many of Swanzy's humorous subjects, the meaning of the picture is not clear. Perhaps she is recalling a particular social occasion, the tipsy behaviour of the three acquaintances. Or perhaps she is making a general satirical observation on human self-indulgence and folly. Julian Campbell, October 2008

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