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Lot Essay
John Berger commented of his work during the 1950s:
'Bratby paints as though he sensed that he only had one more day to live ... He paints every picture in order to impress the subject so vividly in his consciousness that he will never lose it' (M. Yacowar, The Great Bratby: A Portrait of John Bratby, London, 2008, p. 30).
In 1958, Bratby was commissioned to produce large scale paintings for the film The Horses Mouth based on Joyce Cary's novel. Alec Guinness played Gully Jimson an excentric figurative painter and Guinness took inspiration for the role from Bratby. Guinness won Best Actor at the Venice International Film Festival for his role.
The present work is part of a group of paintings associated with the film and the following solo exhibition which was held in New York at The French Gallery on 987 Madison Avenue, Bratby's first in New York.
'Bratby paints as though he sensed that he only had one more day to live ... He paints every picture in order to impress the subject so vividly in his consciousness that he will never lose it' (M. Yacowar, The Great Bratby: A Portrait of John Bratby, London, 2008, p. 30).
In 1958, Bratby was commissioned to produce large scale paintings for the film The Horses Mouth based on Joyce Cary's novel. Alec Guinness played Gully Jimson an excentric figurative painter and Guinness took inspiration for the role from Bratby. Guinness won Best Actor at the Venice International Film Festival for his role.
The present work is part of a group of paintings associated with the film and the following solo exhibition which was held in New York at The French Gallery on 987 Madison Avenue, Bratby's first in New York.