Portrait of a Fireman

Details

Terence Cuneo (1907-1996)
Portrait of a Fireman
signed '.CUNEO.' (lower left), signed again and inscribed 'POTRAIT OF A FIREMAN/CAPE TOWN SHED/SOUTH AFRICA/Terence Cuneo.' (on the reverse)
oil on canvas
24 x 20 in. (61 x 51 cm.)

Provenance

Acquired by the present owner's parents in 1980.

Literature

T. Cuneo, The Mouse & His Master: The Life and Work of Terence Cuneo, London, 1977, p. 158, no. 158, illustrated.

Special notice

Artist's Resale Right ("Droit de Suite"). Artist's Resale Right Regulations 2006 apply to this lot, the buyer agrees to pay us an amount equal to the resale royalty provided for in those Regulations, and we undertake to the buyer to pay such amount to the artist's collection agent.

Brought to you by

Alice Murray

amurray@christies.com +44 (0)20 7389 2423

Lot Essay

‘I have driven locomotives a lot in many parts of the world ... I think to paint engines, one has really got to drive them ... by driving the thing and realising that your puny hands can control this monster … the mere fact of being saturated with this thought makes you paint them correctly, makes you paint their weight and their power’ (T. Cuneo, in an interview with James Mellen, IWM Oral History, 1978, Cat no. 3817, Reel 4, 02:48-03:40).

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