Nadia Bellingeri
Senior Sale Coordinator
Lot 36AR
John Banting(British, 1902-1972)Untitled 25.3 x 19.8 cm. (9 7/8 x 7 7/8 in.)
Ending from 1 May 2025, 12:00 BST
Online, London, New Bond Street£800 - £1,200
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Ingram Reid
Head Of Sale
Robert Jenkinson
Cataloguer
John Banting (British, 1902-1972)
Untitled
signed, inscribed and dated 'To/dean/E. G-H/Easter 1960/John Banting' (verso)
oil on board
25.3 x 19.8 cm. (9 7/8 x 7 7/8 in.)
signed, inscribed and dated 'To/dean/E. G-H/Easter 1960/John Banting' (verso)
oil on board
25.3 x 19.8 cm. (9 7/8 x 7 7/8 in.)
Footnotes
Provenance
The Artist, by whom gifted to
Edward Gathorne-Hardy, thence by descent to the present owner
Private Collection, U.K.
This remarkable composition is based on the dialectical juxtaposition of geometrical shapes and two musical instruments, two accordions, one of them held by grasping hands. Most of Banting's works feature music as the expression of the energy of life - often of a tormented quality - and the deep link with the activity of the mind as epitomized here by the ironic playfulness of colours in the triangles, the top right-hand side one reminiscent of the shape of the accordion. The general distortion and almost writhing of the shapes say a lot about the artist's feelings at this time of his life, when he was almost destitute.
Edward Gathorne-Hardy (1901-1978), to whom the present work is dedicated, came of age as part of the 'Bright Young Things' of the 1920s.
We are grateful to Professor Michel Remy for compiling this catalogue entry.