SIR ROBIN PHILIPSON R.A., P.R.S.A., F.R.S.A., R.S.W., R.G.I., D.Litt., L.L.D. (SCOTTISH 1916-1992) §
PRELUDE TO A COCK FIGHT
£4,500
Scottish Paintings & Sculpture
Auction: Evening Sale: 09 December 2021 | From 18:00
Description
Signed and dated on the canvas return verso '1978'-79', oil on canvas
Dimensions
46cm x 102cm (18in x 40in)
Footnote
Note: Imagery of cockfights emerged in Philipson's work after witnessing them during War service in Burma. He was encouraged to explore the expressive and emotional power of the theme by his Edinburgh College of Art colleague, Robert Henderson Blyth. As Philip Long has pointed out 'the constant juxtaposition of light and dark and male and female would prove to be of enduring importance in Philipson's work' (Philip Long, Robin Philipson 1916-1992, Edinburgh 1999, p.14).
Elizabeth Cumming has explained that 'having fixed on his subject of cockfights, Robin researched it in considerable detail...he visited a local poultry research unit where he could study the movements and colour of cockerels, finding their actions mesmerising' (Elizabeth Cumming, Robin Philipson, Bristol 2018, p.37). Prelude to a Cockfight is a powerful and mature work on the theme, based on a palette of strident reds and realised within a striking horizontal format. Set at a point of high tension, the birds are poised, just beyond contact with each other, before their conflict begins.