Pensive Head

Pensive Head 1938 oil on canvas by Percy Wyndham Lewis (1884–1957).

Half-length portrait of the artist's wife as a young woman, seated, full-face. She rests her chin on her left hand as she leans forward, her gaze cast downwards. She wears a loose brown garment, possibly an overcoat, open at the throat. She is painted against a plain grey background.

This portrait of the artist’s wife Anne was painted at their home at Notting Hill Gate in London. It was her favourite among Wyndham Lewis’s portraits of her. Wyndham Lewis was one of the most talented figurative artists of his generation. His portraits are often chilling and do not express the sitter’s personality.

The angular lines of this portrait typifies Vorticism, an art movement for which Wyndham Lewis was the greatest proponent. Wyndham Lewis formed the Vorticist Group in London in 1914. The group’s paintings combine Cubism with imagery taken from the machine and the urban environment to express the dynamism of the modern world.