Lot 209
  • 209

Peter Howson

Estimate
8,000 - 12,000 GBP
Log in to view results
bidding is closed

Description

  • Peter Howson
  • Croatian and Muslim
  • oil on canvas
  • 213 by 152.5cm.; 84 by 60in.
  • Executed in 1994.

Provenance

Flowers East, London, where acquired by David Bowie, 6th October 1995

Exhibited

London, Imperial War Museum, Peter Howson: BOSNIA, 15th September - 13 November 1994, cat no.8;
Kilmarnock, Dick Institute, Message from Bosnia, 1995, (details untraced);
Manchester, Manchester Art Gallery, Sensory War, 10th October 2014 - 22nd February 2015, un-numbered exhibition.

Condition

The canvas has not been lined. The work is in excellent original condition and is clean and ready to hang.UV light inspection reveals no evidence of any retouching or restorationHeld in plain wooden box frame.
"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

‘I’m not aiming to be controversial. But I wanted to cut out all the reportage. It’s not my job to do that. My job is to do the things you don’t see, that the army doesn’t even get to see, not to be an illustrator, not to tell stories, but to produce strong images of things […] I suppose I think I have the right because I was there and because as an artist I can do anything.’ (the Artist quoted in Peter Howson: BOSNIA, (exh.cat.), Imperial War Museum, 1994, p.14)

Peter Howson was sent to Bosnia in 1993, the conflict had been escalating rapidly and a United Nations peacekeeping force, including a significant British presence, had been deployed to try and stem the horrific acts being perpetrated by both sides. It was decided that a pictorial and artistic record of the war should be made and with limited funding available from the Imperial War Museum the patronage of The Times newspaper enabled Howson to be commissioned as the official war artist in Bosnia. On his appointment The Times wrote that his ‘often violent images and ability to invest ordinary men and women with heroic dignity’ made him an obvious choice to chronicle the conflict. Whilst the history of artists being sent to the battlefield dates to ancient times, the British official war artist programme was formed during the First World War and the response by the great artists of the age still stand as one of the most significant bodies of work in British art history. Howson’s record of the Bosnian War can be considered a clear continuation of this narrative.

Howson’s first visit to Bosnia in June 1993 proved a jarring and profoundly shocking experience as the spectacle of a country bent on self-destruction triggered an artistic paralysis. Howson though felt he had to go back, 'I can't get Bosnia out of my system [...] I'm addicted. It's a horrible addiction.' (ibid, p.10). A second longer stay in December of the same year stimulated a series of small oils recording his encounters. It was only after his return from Bosnia however that he felt able to translate these experiences in to a series of large canvases which sought to address directly the suffering caused by the conflict. The most repellent acts committed centred on the widespread rape of Bosniak Muslim women. Whilst individuals from all ethnic groups committed rape during the conflict, the vast majority were perpetrated by Bosnian Serb forces who used genocidal rape as an instrument of terror against the Bosniak population. Estimates of the total number of women raped during the war vary considerably but the European Union estimates roughly twenty thousand women were subject to rape while the Bosnian Interior Ministry claims a figure nearer to fifty thousand. In order to confront this mass horror Howson interviewed over a hundred rape victims and the stories he was told drove him to paint a number of uncompromising representations of these crimes.

Croatian and Muslim was displayed as part of the Imperial War Museum’s 1994 exhibition Peter Howson: BOSNIA and was also included in the extensive exhibition catalogue. However, on the conclusion of the exhibition the museum rejected it as an addition to their permanent collection. This exclusion caused uproar and a considerable polarisation of opinion. Many argued that validity of the painting was compromised as the work had been produced based on oral accounts rather than an actual witnessed event. Others challenged the museum’s decision arguing that Croatian and Muslim had been rejected because of its graphic imagery and politically provocative nature. This uncomfortable and public situation was resolved when David Bowie chose to purchase the painting. Speaking in the New York Times at the time Bowie described it as ‘the most evocative and devastating painting’. He was deeply troubled by the ethnic cleansing of Bosniak Muslims and used his celebrity discreetly but effectively to raise awareness of the events in Bosnia. Croatian and Muslim remains the most controversial flashpoint of Howson’s Bosnian work and arguably one of the most controversial paintings from the last two decades of British art. Moreover, the painting proves that in a modern age where images of suffering can be seen all too regularly on television and in photographs the power of the war artist to move and shock has not been lost.