Lot 116
ALASDAIR GRAY (SCOTTISH 1934-2019) §
PORTRAIT OF SEATED FIGURE WITH DRAM
Auction: 13 August 2024 from 10:00 BST
Description
Signed, dated, titled and inscribed lower left: 'Ian Fleming, good school teacher of art and friend - drawn 1972, hand-coloured 2017,' ink and gouache
Dimensions
38.5cm x 41cm (15.25in x 16.25in)
Footnote
In the final few years of his life, Gray would re-visit sketches from earlier decades, colourising blocks of the composition with paint and adding inscriptions offering details he recalled of their subjects and sittings. In this case it would appear he has misremembered… Gray recalled enjoyed a dram from time to time with his friend, the art teacher Ian Fleming. However, it does not in fact appear to be Fleming depicted here, and despite Gray's inscription the identity of the sitter remains unknown. It is nonetheless a stylish and stylized period portrait of an intellectual-looking older man enjoying both the whiskey and Gray's company, and a fine example of Gray's distinctive take on portraiture.
