Arles-sur-Tech, France, circa 1926 by Edgar Hereford

A painting reminiscent of Nash and Ravilious of the same period, Hereford formed part of an important small circle of artists that existed around Charles Rennie Macintosh following the Scottish artists's move to Port-Vendres near Collioure on the Mediterranean coast of southern France. Hereford probably knew Mackintosh through drinking with him at the Blue Cockatoo in Chelsea in the early 1920s. At this date Hereford shared lodgings at 28 Draycott Gardens with the painter Rudolph Ihlee and the two artists travelled to Collioure together in 1922, painting together often. It was here they reconnected with Mackintosh, painting distinctive stylised landscapes of the surrounding French countryside that reflect something of his influence whilst remaining refreshingly distinct in their own right. Although comparable to Ihlee's work, Hereford's is perhaps even tighter in execution and dramatic in its sense of contrast. Hereford exhibited his work in London at the New English Arts Club in the mid 1920s and in the British Pavilion at the Venice Biennale. 

With thanks to James Trollope for his kind assistance in cataloguing this painting