Catalogue Eight – November 2010

Welcome to our eighth catalogue, issued on the eve of fire.

If you have any queries regarding the material offered in this list enquiries should be directed via our website form, clearly stating the item number in the subject field. High resolution images can be supplied on request.

Items are sold on a first come, first served basis. Unless otherwise specified, postage and packing is a flat rate of £10 for European buyers of unframed items, but framed items will need us to calculate a tailored quotation. Items will be packed and dispatched by a fully tracked and secure method with basic insurance up to £250.00 Additional insurance cover is optional and should be requested. Buyers from outside Europe, and those succcessful in securing multiple items can request a tailored shipping quote.

ITEM ONE

Savonarola
Pencil and watercolour on paper.
Unsigned, c.1907
h.395mm x w.280mm approx.

EXHIBITED: Bruton Gallery, 1907, item no.6

NOTES: This study of the famous Italian Dominican priest Girolamo Savonarola is based on the portrait by the Florentine painter Fra Bartolommeo (1472-1517). Savonarola was excommunicated and executed for his outspoken views on moral corruption within the church, book-burning and ‘immoral art’. Spare clearly felt some empathy with this dissident, and this particular portrait drew substantial admiration from critics when it was first exhibited at the Bruton Gallery in 1907. The picture has been re-framed handsomely in recent years, but an early exhibition inscription is still on the reverse.

Writing in The Clarion, November 22nd, 1907, critic Bert Walker says: “I must mention one picture ‘Savonarola’. This is masterly and one of the best things I have seen for some time. It is simple, sane, and beautiful.”

£2,600 SOLD

ITEM TWO

[Monolith]
Pencil and watercolour on paper.
Signed twice lower right ‘Austin Osman Spare 28′ and ‘A. Osman Spare’ below.
h.190mm x w.320mm approx.

NOTES: This evocative landscape is typical of those produced by Spare between 1927 and 1936. The owner says the title is written on the reverse of the piece, although it has now been framed. It is possible this piece was exhibited at The Lefevre Gallery in 1929, where a picture by this title is listed as No.89. This particular shade of green was common in Spares work during the late 1920s and holds a special esoteric significance. During this period, he also sometimes signed work twice.

£2,200 SOLD

ITEM THREE

[Vibratory Portrait - Grace Rogers]
Pencil and crayon on paper.
Signed twice with initials lower left ‘Zos‘ and lower right ‘AOS‘ c.1927
h.150mm x w.105mm approx.

NOTES: It was Grace Rogers who supported Spare through his ‘dark night of the Soul’ in the mid 1920s, and he celebrated their friendship by decorating special copies of Anathema of Zos (published 1927) with portraits of Grace. His inclination during this period was for ‘vibratory’ portraits, that is, portraits of the aura, and this example is typical of the approach Spare adopted.

£1,100

An important series of designs for magical stelae

Need we say how rare the following material is? Spare produced very few magical stelae, and all of them at the very end of his creative life. The 1955 Archer Gallery catalogue records just seven, here listed by the catalogue item number:

No.60 For Protection from evil people
No.61 For Destruction of Vermin
No.62 Cure for all types of headache
No.63 General Anathema and Malediction
No.64 General Benedictus and Love of All Things
No.65 Desire for Vampires and Succubi
No.66 Desire for Psycho-somatic strength

The following sketches date from around 1953-5 and seem to be preliminary designs for the above series. Here we can see the process of Spare constructing sigillic formula fit for magical purpose. The images are fluid, sketchy, and yet potent. They are all a little grubby, some slightly creased… in essence, they represent an unrestored piece of the Wynne Road studio era. Indeed, it isn’t hard to imagine these laying on Spare’s working table, awaiting a fuller hand to enflesh the designs further.

All these drawing are supplied mounted on museum quality conservation board.

ITEM FOUR

This is the preliminary design for a stelae that was given to Frank Letchford as wedding gift in 1953. It is reproduced in Michaelangelo in the Teacup, First Impressions, 1995, p.242. In the upper left, we can see ‘O Divine ISIS, help me’. The long snaking lines effect a means of magical transitivity, connecting and ensorcelling deities, characters and wishes. A second, larger and slightly revised version was produced for the 1955 show and is No.66 ‘Desire for Psycho-somatic strength’ in the Archer Gallery catalogue.

Pencil and crayon on paper.
Unsigned, c.1953
h.310mm x w.200mm approx.

£1550 SOLD

ITEM FIVE

This exceptional rendering of ISIS appears to be a variation of the stelae No. 64 ‘General Benediction and Love of All Things’, now in the collection of Jimmy Page. This design has a similar uraeus serpent atop with Egyptian figures in profile. However, in the final design the central figure of Isis has been exchanged for an ambiguous figure, possibly of Mithras. Spare has noted the name ‘Chapman’ in the lower right corner, probably referring to the collector Ernest Chapman. Beneath the Egyptian eye motifs can be seen a palimpsest of two faces in profile. Either side of the base are sigillized formula, with ‘C.H.’ and ‘A.J.’ above, but the identity of these individuals is currently unknown.

Pencil and crayon on paper.
Unsigned, dated ’1954′ in Spare’s hand lower right.
h.310mm x w.200mm approx.

£1650 SOLD

ITEM SIX

Probably a variation for the design Spare produced for Frank Letchford in October 1955, his second ‘improved’ marriage stelae, reproduced in Michaelangelo in a Teacup, First Impressions, 1995, p.340. Here we can see Spare’s art as nexus, binding together disparate magical sources including Assyrian, Aztec, Egyptian influences and the masks of the Pacific Northwest. The profiles in the lower centre portion are possibly Frank and his wife, Joyce.

Pencil and crayon on paper.
Signed lower right ‘AOS‘, c.1955
h.310mm x w.200mm approx.

£1180 SOLD

ITEM SEVEN

Pencil on paper.
Signed lower right ‘AOS‘, c.1955
h.310mm x w.200mm approx.

This is the preliminary sketch for No.62 ‘Cure for All types of Headache’, a stelae produced for Spare’s journalist friend, Dennis Bardens. It is of course, a good deal more than a curative. The figure on the left ISIS, above her the solar deity and beside her the modes of manifestation. A formula of sacred letters and sigils draws energy from the source of all beginnings.

£850 SOLD

ITEM EIGHT

Pencil on paper.
Unsigned, c.1955
h.310mm x w.200mm approx.

This study shows us an Assyrian ‘griffin-demon’ taken from a relief in the British Museum originally from the palace of Assurnasirpal II. In his hand is a bucket, signifying purification. The traditional role of this figure is one of protection. At the lower edge of the drawing is a sigillized spell which reads: “Because I desire, believe + will, through glorious sun, I evoke the… [unclear]“. Spare had a lifelong connection with Assurasirpal II, as a statue of this King, also in the British Museum, appeared in a work as early as 1909.

£850 SOLD

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