Sketch book crammed with full page, double page and smaller vignettes of daily life captured throughout the artist’s travels in Central America, the locations sketched and painted include: Main Street, St Thomas in the Virgin Islands, Puerto Cabello in Venezuela, Puntarenas in Costa Rica (5 pp. coastal scenes), Acajutla in El Salvador, Mazatlan, Le Union in El Salvador, Guaymas in Mexico (a cotton yard. the wharf), Volcanoes in San Jose, Guatetmala, Corinto in Nicaragua (beach scenes), siesta time and birds in Corinto, Saint Juan del Sud Nicaragua, the dawn flight of the ibis in Puerto Cabello, Venezuela, Fort Geronimo, San Juan in Puerto Rico and pool scenes c1965 at the Caribe Hilton in Puerto Rico.
Attwell appears to have drawn and painted on location to document the everyday, the crowded, busy and scenic compositions within this sketchbook include landscapes, street scenes and fabulous vignettes of the people and characters along the way which pop with energy, feeling and vibrancy. Each image is unique, displaying an almost obsessive need to record every person, bird, landscape or flower.
Ivy Theresa Attwell (1898-1985) was an artist, traveller, and chronicler of the 20th century. She was the great-niece of the children’s writer Mabel Lucie Attwell, the chairman of Devon Art Society and a member of Torquay Library and Art Committee. Attwell travelled on various cargo shipping routes around the world producing keenly observed, vibrant sketches which beautifully observed local customs, traditions, people and nature.
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: Soft back landscape sketchbook measuring approx. 7” x 10”. Contains c35 pp. full page colour sketches, many forming part of a double page landscape alongside c10 pp. leaves full of marvellous vignettes and sketches which capture the essence of the people and characters along the way. A couple of leaves detached. Watercolour and pen. All in very good condition.
