PROPERTY FROM THE COLLECTION OF THE LATE EDWARD J POWER Edward J 'Ted' Power (1899-1993), a radio and radar pioneer was to become the most extraordinary collector and champion of modern art, building what was one of the most important collections of post-war international art of his generation. Born in Ireland, he grew up in Manchester and at the age of sixteen joined the Royal Navy as a wireless operator. Leaving the Navy in the early 1920s, Power went into business as a manufacturer of crystal sets and transformers and in 1929 he formed a partnership with Frank Murphy, an old family friend. The partnership resulted in the firm Murphy Radio, and eventually he sold control of the company to the Rank Organisation in 1962. It was in retirement that Power devoted himself to collecting art. Power was a Trustee of the Tate Gallery from 1968 to 1974 and was a generous benefactor, donating works by British and foreign artists, keen to expand the Gallery's representation of 'new' art. In 1980 the Tate acquired from him a group of 23 works which included Eve by Barnett Newman and The Tree of Fluids by Jean Dubuffet. After his death in 1993 a further six works from his estate were allocated to the Tate by the Department of National Heritage in lieu of tax. An exhibition at the Tate, Branscusi to Beuys: works from the Ted Power Collection, was mounted 19 November 1996 - 16 February 1997, securing the importance of Power's role in the British art scene through his collecting and friendship with artists.

Barry Flanagan (1941-2009)

Cornish Bub

Details

Barry Flanagan (1941-2009)
Cornish Bub
dated '19/79' (on the top)
oil on granite
22 in. (55.8 cm.) high

Provenance

with Waddington Galleries, London, where purchased by the late Edward J. Power and by descent.

Literature

Exhibition catalogue, Barry Flanagan: Sculpture in Stone 1973-1979, Waddington Galleries, London, 1980, p. 29, illustrated.
Exhibition catalogue, Rosc '80: The Poetry of Vision: An International Exhibition of Modern Art and Chinese Art, National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin, 1980, p. 49, illustrated.
Exhibition catalogue, Barry Flanagan Sculpture, The British Arts Council, 1982, p. 47, illustrated.

Exhibited

London, Waddington Galleries, Barry Flanagan: Sculptures in Stone 1973-1979, April - May 1980, not numbered.
Dublin, University College, Rosc '80: The Poetry of Vision: An International Exhibition of Modern Art and Chinese Art, July - September 1980, no. 38: this exhibition travelled to Dublin, National Gallery of Ireland, July - September 1980.
Venice, British Council Exhibition, British Pavilion, XXXX Venice Biennale, Barry Flanagan, Stone and Bronze Sculptures, June - September 1982, not numbered: this exhibition travelled to Krefeld, Museum Haus Esters, October - December 1982; and London, Whitechapel Art Gallery, January - February 1983.

Lot Essay

'The artist remembers seeing several 'bubs' among the bushes by the side of a petrol station in Cornwall. They were granite ones ... and used in the West Country to support building foundations. In the work of art called Cornish Bub the sturdy form has been embellished by regular chiselled lines depicting female anatomy' (see C. Lampert, Exhibition catalogue, Barry Flanagan Sculpture in Stone 1973-79, Waddington Galleries, London, 1980, pp. 36-37).

More from 20th Century British Art

View All