British painter Peter Sheldon-Williams adopted the pseudonym 'Oscar' at the precocious age of fifteen. A Pacifist and Internationalist, he believed strongly in the socio-political role of the artist. In his early career, Oscar was affiliated with Surrealism and later the post-DADA Imago group, but his work shifted towards realism and abstraction after the Second World War. The present picture is exemplary of his early Surrealist work: neither wholly abstract nor purely figurative, he is playing with animalistic forms and fantastical imagery. The composition is unified by a carefully chosen colour palette and strong black lines.
