Allen Jones, R.A.

Marlborough Fine Art, London
Richard Feigen Gallery, Chicago
Sale, Sotheby's, London, 11 November 1987, lot 273

The following condition report was prepared by the painting restorer Phil Young: CONDITION The complex stretcher construction has natural off square joints and sloping lines as intended. There is some local distortion in the canvas around the lower shoulders of the stretcher with accompanying cracking in the paint. The canvas tension is generally good and the structure sound. There is a general surface dirt with greyness and fingermarking around all edges. The paint has been slightly darkened by repeated contact around the edges and there is evidence of some restoration at points such as the upper right edge. 12cm up from the lower edge is a horizontal scrape across the paint surface indenting the canvas for around 20cm. In addition there are numerous splash marks and drip marks. The paint has been damaged by contact 20cm from the left and 12cm from the upper edges of the lower left section, this has left a mark on the surface and some concentric cracking. In the right side of the green are runs of pale drip marks over the surface. CONCLUSIONS It is likely the general greyness and marking can be improved by surface cleaning and the other points described dealt with through minimal treatment. The cracks at the shoulders are inevitable and would have been present for a long time and should be accepted, as they cannot be eliminated.
"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."

When looking at Jones' work from the first half of the 1960s what is immediately clear is not only how he constantly seems able to draw a new theme into his work and make it distinct, but how fresh each theme remains.

The earliest paintings, such as The Artist Thinks of 1960 or The General and his Girl of 1961 (both Private Collection), fuse the formal problems of abstraction with a variety of other concepts such as the artist's interest in Freudian and Jungian philosophy. This combining of approaches has links to that employed by Hamilton a little earlier, a process that was taken further in the 'bus' paintings and the 'hermaphrodite' paintings of 1962-3. Here Jones explores the links between subject, process and the physical elements of a painting, and we see the introduction of the shaped canvases as a definite attempt to emphasise the physicality of the painting.

The paintings which followed, such as Zips and Green Dress (Private Collection) introduce a less abstracted imagery and may relate to the influence of Jones' trip to New York in 1964 and in its harder edges could suggests an awareness of the work of James Rosenquist and Tom Wesselmann as well as Jones' own interest in the American erotic illustrators of the 1940s. However by retaining the shaped canvases he had been using earlier and by adopting a pseudo-realist manner that treats all elements of the image equally, Jones is able to imbue his paintings with a sense of momentary abstraction which disturbs the reading of the basic erotic imagery that he is using. Zips is an extreme example of this, the inverted T-shape of the canvas offering a narrow glimpse of the back of a figure in a state of semi-undress, although the artist gives us no further clues as to the situation. This concentration on one specific area of the body was one which Jones has retained throughout his career, and would appear in the more overtly fetishistic paintings that would follow, such as Wet Seal (Tate Collection, London).