5th Apr, 2022 10:00
Modern and Contemporary Art
136
▲ Pauline Boty (1938-1966)
Pauline Boty (1938-1966)
The artist's husband, Clive Goodwin, reclining, c.1963
pencil
25 x 20cm
Provenance: Estate of Pauline Boty;
estate of Clive Goodwin;
Nicholas Grindley.
Exhibited: The Mayor Gallery, London, 'Pauline Boty and Other Modern British Artists', 7 September - 7 October 2009.
Pauline Boty was the only female founder of the British Pop Art movement and an icon of 1970s feminism. Born in South London in 1938, she was the youngest of four children and grew up in a conservative Catholic family. In 1954, she won a scholarship to Wimbledon School of Art, which she accepted with the support of her mother (whose artistic ambitions had been thwarted by her parents).
Boty studied lithography and stained-glass making, but also painted in a distinctive style. She exhibited with the Young Contemporaries alongside Robyn Denny and Bridget Riley in 1957 and 1959. Her developing friendships with Pop artists such as David Hockney and Peter Blake drew her further into this circle, and in 1961, she participated in a group show titled ‘Blake, Boty, Porter, Reeve’. Just two years later, she had her first solo show at the Grabowski Gallery, which was received with acclaim. After a brief stint in acting and on radio, Boty returned to painting. Her work became increasingly political with anti-Vietnam War and anti-patriarchy themes emerging.
After a whirlwind romance, she married Clive Goodwin, who Boty captures in this intimate drawing of her husband with eyes shut, reclined and apparently sleeping. In 1965, Boty became pregnant, but early into the pregnancy, doctors discovered a cancerous tumour. Knowing that treatment would damage the foetus, Boty chose not to pursue this. She died aged just twenty-eight, only five months after the birth of her daughter.
In 2013, Boty received her first retrospective at the Wolverhampton Art Gallery; later travelled to Pallant House Gallery.
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Sold for £5,500
Condition Report
Viewed out of frame, a few creases that have been flattened out lower right corner and one small crease lower left corner, also smaller ones top two corners, a soft fold line diagonally across work, generally these are not obvious once work is within glazed frame, it generally appears to be in good order. Please refer to condition report images that illustrate work out of frame.
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Auction: Modern and Contemporary Art, 5th Apr, 2022
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