Oranges and lemons

Alison Rehfisch's dynamic composition 'Oranges and lemons' portrays a carefully constructed still life using a strict palette. The work depicts a plate, bowl and modernist jug in white and eggshell hues upon a pale tabletop, which fills most of the canvas and flattens the pictorial plane. Scattered fruit, a candleholder and stamped envelopes introduce colour in accordance with the artist's precise tonal scale. Reduced to their essential forms, objects have a geometric quality and are arranged in a diamond shape – leaving the corners of the canvas empty – which accentuates the flatness of the composition.

Rehfisch travelled to London in 1933 where she studied at the Grosvenor School, developing her artistic practice, and commitment to the modernist principles of colour and design. The envelopes depicted in this painting reflect her experience living abroad as an expatriate.