Peter Howson

Flowers East, London

The canvas is original. The work is in good original condition, clean and ready to hang. Ultraviolet light reveals no sign of retouching. Held in a simple black painted wooden frame in fair condition.
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The first of these two works by Howson, The Lodge, executed in 1993, dates to the important pre-Bosnian period and is one of the finest examples of its type. This is one of the earliest examples of imagery and composition which were repeated in other works such as Drum (1995) in the collection of Gary Kurfirst, Nassau and Drum II (1998) in the collection of Steven Berkoff. The imagined marching band of thugs offered Howson a wonderful opportunity to explore the violent and energetic imagery which form the backbone of his signature style. Following Howson's important yet highly traumatic experiences in Bosnia, he began work on a major series of paintings which were to be exhibited at Flowers East in 1996 under the title The Rake's Progress and Other Paintings. The Rake series, as with a large body of Howson's work, contains an intense narrative and one can read the central figure as representative of the artist's inner demons or even as an imagined self-portrait. Mechech, executed in 1997, is one of Howson's most significant single figure works and bears resemblance in composition to other key works including Madai (1997), Gomer (1997) and Mr. Great Heart (1996). Robert Heller identifies that "the series, with its self-portraits and identification with the Rake, reads like Howson's way of working himself out of black emotions. Apart from any cathartic effect they may have had on his mental state, the paintings, with their strong narrative line proving so effective, gave Howson an artistic uplift" enabling him to produce some of his most haunting and violent paintings.