John Bratby, R.A. (1928-1992)
John Bratby, R.A. (1928-1992)

Juxtaposition of Images I

Details
John Bratby, R.A. (1928-1992)
Juxtaposition of Images I
signed 'BRATBY' (lower centre), inscribed 'REAL LEATHER REAL GOLD' (lower left)
oil on canvas
72 x 144 in. (182.9 x 365.8 cm.)
Painted 1964-9.
Literature
Exhibition catalogue, John Bratby Portraits, National Portrait Gallery, London, 1991, p. 31, illustrated.
Exhibited
London, South London Art Gallery, John Bratby Retrospective, 1971, no 1.
London, Royal Academy, 1974, no. 479, as 'So Many Titles, One Settles for None'.
London, National Portrait Gallery, John Bratby Portraits, March - May 1991, no. 15, as 'Bruce Lacey in Tacitus' Travesty of Seneca: "The Pumpkinification of the apotheosis and deification of Claudius"'.

Lot Essay

Top row (left), left to right:
Mr Bartlett, Brian Richmond, Dr John Lee, Dr Bethel Solomons, John Stott, unidentified publisher, Michael Chase, Gerald Howson.
Second row (left), left to right:
Hazel Bell, Professor John Bell, Jean Cooke, Cyril Reason.
Centre: Jason Bratby, David Bratby, Jean Cooke.
Right: Bruce Lacey, Sally Vincent, Dr Bethel Solomons, Dr John Lee.
Below: Undidentified journalist, Hazel Bell.

'This random assembly of Bratby's friends and acquaintances in the mid 1960s is held together by the clowning figure of Bruce Lacey. Bratby had just read Robert Graves and draws a parallel between the classical parody and Lacey's 1960s satire. In the introduction to his small retrospective at the South London Art Gallery, he wrote "In [the] picture there are two flanking blocks of conformist bourgeoisie viewing with distaste a little group of non-conforming creatures which include a leopard ... The ... pictures are about the positioning of images, mostly human in relationship to each other"' (see Exhibition catalogue, John Bratby Portraits, National Portrait Gallery, London, 1991, p. 57).

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