John Minton

Alex. Reid & Lefevre Ltd, London
Sale, Phillips London, 5th November 1991, lot 47
Sale, Sotheby's London, 24th November 1993, lot 108, where acquired by David Bowie

Original canvas. The canvas is sound. There is a small push to the canvas along the lower left edge, caused by an object between the stretcher and the canvas. There are a few small areas of reticulation to the centre of the composition, only visible upon very close inspection, with one or two very fine lines of craquelure elsewhere. There is a very small light scuff to the draped cloth on the table and a tiny area of surface debris above the fan on the right. Subject to the above the work is in excellent overall condition. Inspection under ultraviolet light reveals a few tiny specks of sensitive re-touching to the floor. Please telephone the department on +44 (0) 207 293 6424 if you have any questions regarding the present work.
"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."

We are grateful to Frances Spalding for her kind assistance with the cataloguing of the present work.

In the collection of the Royal College of Art hangs a small but intense portrait, painted in 1952 by one of Britain’s most celebrated and internationally recognised artists, Lucian Freud. The painting depicts the head and shoulders of a man only half there - his friend and early supporter, the artist John Minton. Although nowhere near as internationally recognised as his friend, Minton holds a pivotal position within the mid-century period of British figurative art. In the 1950s he was amongst the most celebrated artists working in London, and, much like David Bomberg, he left a lasting legacy through his role as one of the most important and influential teachers to young art students in the 1940s and ‘50s.

Once described by the art historian Frances Spalding as ‘a kind of David Hockney of his day’ (John Minton: 1917 – 1957, A Selective Retrospective (exh. cat.), Davies Memorial Gallery, Newton, 1993, p.9) Minton’s driving inspiration was the figure and the male figure in particular. Together with his on-off friend Keith Vaughan, whom he lived with at Hamilton Terrace, he painted the male nude in a way that no other artist of the period could: with a knowing understanding and a strikingly bold confidence. He found beauty in the defined muscular build and a distant, never-quite-confronting gaze.

During his time spent as one of the most popular tutors at the Royal College of Art he led students in direct observation in the life room. He loved theatre and theatrics, and staged his paintings accordingly, seen in the present work, which becomes a portrait, still life painting and set design combined into one.

Colour and pattern remained a lasting fascination for the artist, with a palette so evocative of the late 1940s period. Minton was an elegant idealist, writing for a lecture at the Birmingham College of Art and Crafts in 1952 that ‘the truth is in the painting of it, not in the saying of it’ (Speculations on the Contemporary Painter, City of Birmingham School of Printing, Birmingham, 1952, p.3) and to look closely at the present work you are drawn deeply into Minton’s world, in much the same way that Freud’s portrait of the artist draws you in. Whilst the world of Freud’s quite challenging portrait brings to mind the tragic life that Minton led, culminating in his eventual suicide in 1957, the world that Minton creates in the present work is one of colour, strength and idealised beauty.