- 42
Patrick Hughes
Description
- Patrick Hughes
- Liquorice Allsorts
- signed, titled, dated 1960, and inscribed on the reverse
- gloss paint on board
- 50.5 by 62cm.; 19¾ by 24¼in.
Provenance
Sale, Phillips London, 21st November 1995, lot 42, where acquired by David Bowie
Exhibited
Literature
David Sylvester, New Statesman, 7th July 1961, p.25;
Painter & Sculptor, Summer 1961, vol.5, no.1;
David Sylvester, Sunday Times Magazine, 26th January 1964.
Condition
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."
Catalogue Note
Patrick Hughes holds a pivotal position within the history of Pop Art in Britain. As the first British Pop artist to receive a solo exhibition in London, Hughes trod a fine line between Pop and Surrealism. The 1961 exhibition at London’s Portal Gallery, in which the present work was exhibited, provided an exciting and visually engaging alternative to the growing popularity of non-figurative trends. His reputation developed further through exhibitions including New Approaches to the Figure at London’s Arthur Jeffress Gallery in 1962, where his work was exhibited alongside that of Peter Blake, Derek Boshier, Richard Hamilton and David Hockney. Yet his relationship with Pop was by no means exhaustive, being identified by the critic David Sylvester as a ‘part-Pop’ artist alongside the likes of Allen Jones, R.B. Kitaj and Eduardo Paolozzi, rather than the fully committed artists of the Jeffress gallery.
Hughes was well aware of the developments occurring in the United States, later recalling ‘we knew at the time about … Roy Lichtenstein, Jasper Johns and Warhol. We knew all about Pop Art and the fag end of surrealism, [Hans] Bellmer and all those other guys …’ (the Artist, quoted in James Charmley, Creative License: Leeds College of Art (1963-1973), The Lutterworth Press, Cambridge, 2015, p.20). Together with fellow teachers at Leeds College of Art, including Glynn Williams, Hughes was drawn to the bright, optimistic colours of the work emerging from America during this period, as well as the popular cultural imagery that they drew from it. Much like their American counterparts, British Pop art of the period became littered with references to big, well-known brands, whether Clive Barker’s Coca-Cola bottles, or Derek Boshier’s Special K cereal, Oxo cubes or toothpaste.
In the present work Hughes takes the colourful and instantly recognisable subject of one of Britain’s most popular sweets, liquorice allsorts, as his starting point. Made popular in the late nineteenth century, they zing with bright pinks, and fluorescent yellows, set against the jet black liquorice element. Presenting the individual sweets with simple, pared-back brushwork, Hughes sets them against a glossy green background that at once brings to mind the playful spirit of the 1960s, whilst simultaneously parodying the then predominant abstract approaches sweeping the London art scene. Hughes was, and remains to this day, a trend-setter, who challenged accepted boundaries and eventually developed mind-bending three-dimensional constructions which break free from the wall and established his renown.