ALASDAIR GRAY (SCOTTISH 1934-2019) §
GLASGOW TRIUMPH OF DEATH / FALL OF STAR WORMWOOD
£42,701
Contemporary Art // Prints & Multiples
Auction: Contemporary Art: 10 January 2024 | From 10:00
Description
Signed lower right, oil on canvas
Dimensions
201cm x 349cm (79in x 137.5in)
Footnote
Glasgow Triumph of Death (Fall of Star Wormwood) is arguably Alasdair Gray’s masterwork. Though perhaps not as well-known an image as its fellow mural Cowcaddens (now held in the city of Glasgow’s collection), it is the ultimate visual realisation of the literary, artistic and philosophical preoccupations which Gray was to crystallise in his landmark novel Lanark (1981).
In 1957, against the backdrop of the Cold War, Gray was invited to participate in a special exhibition to be held at the Glasgow McLellan Gallery before travelling to Edinburgh’s Gateway Theatre. It was called ‘Artists Against the Bomb’ – a topic that had become especially pressing for Scottish creatives given the recent announcement of plans to house Europe’s biggest nuclear arsenal in Holy Loch, just up the west coast from Glasgow. Gray took inspiration from Breughel’s horrifying masterpiece Triumph of Death, representing mutant-like figures in place of Breughel’s skeletons, as well as borrowing devils from that other preeminent apocalyptic painter, Hieronymus Bosch. Behind this grisly chaos are the Necropolis and Cathedral (which indeed feature so pivotally at the close of Lanark), the Royal Infirmary, Clyde and St Enoch station.
Having been in private hands since the 1957 exhibition, Lyon & Turnbull are delighted to offer it now for sale, giving fans of this great Scottish polymath’s work the chance to own an artwork of national importance. The timing of its sale also seems apt given the current spotlight on Gray’s work with the imminent release of Poor Things, the dramatization of his 1992 novel of the same title which is scheduled for release in cinemas in early 2024.