Locations in Wiltshire and northern Italy identified in two of Boty’s major works

By pure serendipity I recently came across Christopher Skelton-Davies and his remarkable Country House Obsession Instagram account @country_house_obsession

Christopher had commented in a recent post “I also have the useless skill of being able to identify a house by only seeing a very small part, like a window, which my family and friends regularly test me on whilst watching TV. A lot of people contact me with their personal connections and stories with some of the houses I visit and I love to hear those stories so please DM and share” and I wondered if paulineboty.org might avail itself of his expertise to try and ascertain whether the buildings and landscapes Boty painted in It’s a Man’s World I and II were real or conjured up from her imagination?

Sure enough Christopher promptly replied that firstly the building at the top of It’s a Man’s World I is based on the Palazzina di caccia of Stupinigi [one of the Residences of the Royal House of Savoy] in Northern Italy and that secondly the landscape at the bottom of It’s a Man’s World II shows the Pantheon at Stourhead in Wiltshire.

Please see below for images of Boty’s paintings followed by those of the locations.

Pauline Boty, It’s a Man’s World I, 1964

Façade of the Palazzina di caccia of Stupinigi. Photo by Paris Orlando via Wikimedia Commons

For further information on Palazzina di caccia of Stupinigi please see here [link] and for visiting info here [link] [in Italian]

Further information on the individuals identified in the painting, including Marcel Proust, Federico Fellini and Marcello Mastroianni is available here [link]

Pauline Boty, It’s a Man’s World II, 1964/5

The Palladian bridge and Pantheon at Stourhead. Photo by Hamburg103a via Wikimedia Commons

For further information about Stourhead please see here [link] and for visiting info from the National Trust here [link]

Many thanks indeed to Christopher Skelton-Davies and @country_house_obsession

“Colours of Art”, including a discussion of Pauline Boty’s “Colour Her Gone”, is out soon

“Colours of Art: The Story of Art in 80 Palettes” by Chloë Ashby, published by Frances Lincoln

“Colours of Art: The Story of Art in 80 Palettes” by Chloë Ashby examines, in chronological order, 80 artworks and their palettes.

From the Quarto website: “Colour allows artists to express their individuality, evoke certain moods and portray positive or negative subliminal messages. And throughout history the greatest of artists have experimented with new pigments and new technologies to lead movements and deliver masterpieces. As something so cardinal, we sometimes forget how poignant colour palettes can be, and how much they can tell us.

Structured chronologically, ‘Colours of Art’ takes a fun, intelligent, visually engaging look at the greatest artistic palettes in history offering a refreshing and thoughtful primer for those who want to look at art through the ages from a different perspective. Spanning centuries and styles, from cave to contemporary art, Chloë Ashby invites you to navigate familiar and lesser-known works through a vibrant new lens.

‘When I was planning my chapters’ says Chloë, “some works came to me right away. Others, I discovered as I went along. This book isn’t definitive – how could it be, considering colour’s inexhaustible variety? Instead, it’s my attempt to capture and celebrate that variety on the page. Each artwork is accompanied by an infographic palette that’s intended to help you engage with the colours at play. My focus is on painting and colour is my jumping off point, but the art that does appear within these pages can be viewed through countless lenses.

The story of art reads differently depending on where and when you’re doing the reading – this is just one version, told in 80 palettes. You can read it chronologically from start to finish, or you can dip in and out. Wherever you land, you’ll find yourself immersed in colour – rich, vital, chameleonic. For these pieces, colour is not only a tool (like a paintbrush or a canvas) but the fundamental secret to their success.’”

Chloë Ashby is a writer and editor. She studied at the Courtauld Institute of Art and has written about art and culture for numerous publications.

Publisher: Frances Lincoln
Format: Hardback
ISBN 9780711258044
Dimensions: 245 mm x 190 mm
Pages: 256
Price: £25.00

Promotional video for new Boty documentary released

Mono Media Films and Channel X have announced that they are currently in the process of conducting interviews for a forthcoming documentary on the life and work of Boty.
They have previously produced programmes on, among others, Paul Weller, The Style Council and Peter Blake.
You can see the original promotional video for “Pauline Boty: I Am The 60s” on Vimeo here [link] and keep up to date here via:

Instagram [link]
Twitter [link]
FaceBook [link]

Rediscovered Canova masterpiece once situated outside Boty’s Kensington flat to be auctioned by Christie’s

Antonio Canova (1757-1822), Maddalena Giacente (Recumbent Magdalene), 1819-22. © Christie’s Images Ltd 2022

Antonio Canova’s Maddalena Giacente (Recumbent Magdalene), regarded as his lost masterpiece and completed shortly before his death, will be a star lot in the Old Masters Evening Sale on 7 July 2022 at Christie’s in London

At one stage the sculpture was located outside the front of the house in Addison Road owned by antique dealer Jon Manasseh which Boty shared with Celia Birtwell. Derek Boshier also rented a room as a studio there whilst Peter Blake stored his paintings. The sculpture even makes a brief appearance in Ken Russell’s 1962 documentary Pop Goes the Easel with an aerial shot of Blake seated on it whilst he, Boshier and Peter Phillips wait for Boty to respond to their ringing the bell to be let in.

Boty on the steps outside Addison Road [unknown photographer]

From the Christie’s website:

Having accidentally become an art world ‘sleeping beauty’ over the last 100 years – her authorship gradually forgotten and whereabouts unknown – this outstanding sculpture of Mary Magdalene in a state of ecstasy was commissioned by the Prime Minister of the day, Lord Liverpool (1812-1827). Recumbent Magdalene will be a star lot during Christie’s Summer edition of Classic Week in London.

Dr. Mario Guderzo, leading Canova scholar, former Director of the Museo Gypsotheca Antonio Canova and Museo Biblioteca Archivio di Bassano del Grappa commented: “It is a miracle that Antonio Canova’s exceptional, long lost masterpiece the Recumbent Magdalene has been found, 200 years after its completion. This work has been searched for by scholars for decades, so the discovery is of fundamental importance for the history of collecting and the history of art. It testifies to the intensive thought process of the work of the Italian sculptor who was a fundamental witness of his time: faithful to Pope Pius VII, sought after by Napoleon, beloved by the English sovereign George IV, esteemed by the world of European collecting and of critical importance for the restitution of works of art seized under Napoleon. The re-discovery of the Recumbent Magdalene brings to a conclusion a very particular story worthy of a novel, of a marble of significant historical value and great aesthetic beauty produced by Canova in the final years of his artistic activity.”

Details of work
Antonio Canova (Possagno 1757–1822 Venice)
Maddalena Giacente (Recumbent Magdalene), Marble, 1819–1822
75 x 176 x 84.5 cm (291⁄2 x 691⁄4 x 331⁄4 in.)
Estimate: GBP 5,000,000–8,000,000

Further information on the work and sale, including a short film with Christie’s European Sculpture specialist Donald Johnston and art critic Alastair Sooke on its remarkable rediscovery, is available here: [link]

Boty work sells for new record price in auction at Sotheby’s

*WITH LOVE TO JEAN-PAUL BELMONDO [detail], oil on canvas, 1962*

Yesterday evening in Sotheby’s British Art: The Jubilee Auction Pauline Boty’s 1962 painting With Love to Jean-Paul Belmondo sold for GBP 1,159,500 [GBP 950,000 plus Buyer’s Premium; Estimate GBP 500,000 – 800,000] achieving a new record price for one of her works.

This was previously held by her 1966 painting Bum, which sold at Christie’s on 22 November 2017 for GBP 632,750 [including Buyer’s Premium] with an estimate of GBP 200,000 – 300,000.

For more on yesterday’s sale and an extensive Catalogue Note on the work by Sue Tate [scroll right to the foot of the page] please see here: [link]

“Pauline Boty, Pop Artist and Woman” event on Monday in Sotheby’s Jubilee Arts Festival

The Jubilee Arts Festival takes place from 28 May–15 June at Sotheby’s London and is described as follows: “Within the Jubilee Season, Sotheby’s will open its doors for an Arts Festival celebrating the alchemy of British creativity and stirring its spirit in the next generation. With exhibitions and events spanning the visual, performing, and literary, we will gather figures advancing and reinterpreting Britain’s treasured cultural legacy. Beyond unique opportunities to view artworks and jewellery loaned from some of the nation’s greatest private collections, we are partnering with RADA, Intelligence Squared and Fantasia Orchestra to deliver a programme of musical and dramatic performances, cultural and historical debates and talks with contemporary artists and creatives.”

On Monday 13 June at 1:00 pm in Pauline Boty, Pop Artist and Woman, Dr Sue Tate and Sotheby’s Frances Christie will discuss Boty’s life and work, including her important 1962 painting With Love to Jean Paul Belmondo which is due to be auctioned by Sotheby’s on 29th June [please see previous News item].

For further information on the festival please click here: [link]

Major work by Boty to be sold by Sotheby’s in Jubilee Auction

On 29th June “British Art: The Jubilee Auction” at Sotheby’s in London will include Pauline Boty’s 1962 painting With Love to Jean-Paul Belmondo, with an estimated sale price of 500,000 – 800,000 GBP.

WITH LOVE TO JEAN-PAUL BELMONDO, oil on canvas, 1962

Sotheby’s describe the sale as follows: “In June 2022, the world’s attention will turn to London as we pay tribute to Queen Elizabeth II, the longest serving monarch in UK history, admired and respected globally for her 70 years of service. To mark this significant moment, we will hold a major live-streamed Evening auction dedicated to the best of British Art. The sale will incorporate artists such as Gainsborough, Constable and Millais working in the 18th and 19th centuries to icons of the 20th century such as Barbara Hepworth and L.S. Lowry, and into the 21st century with artists such as Bridget Riley and Banksy.”

With Love to Jean-Paul Belmondo will also be included in an exhibition at Sotheby’s in London from 28th May–15th June and 22nd–29th June. In the intervening time it will be on display in New York with other key works.

More information on the sale is available here: [link]

On 13th June Dr Sue Tate and Sotheby’s Frances Christie will be in conversation as part of the Jubilee Arts Festival – a programme of musical and dramatic performances, cultural and historical debates and talks with contemporary artists and creatives. Further details to follow soon here.

Details
With Love to Jean-Paul Belmondo by Pauline Boty
Oil on canvas
Signed BOTY, titled and dated 62 (on canvas overlap)
Property from a French Private Collection

Unframed: 152.5 by 122cm.; 60 by 48¼in.
Framed: 154 by 123.5cm.; 60½ by 48¾in.
Executed in 1962.

New landmark eight-part BBC series includes work by Boty

Art that Made Us is a landmark eight-part series for BBC Two co-produced by the BBC and The Open University. Through 1,500 years and eight dramatic turning points, the series presents an alternative history of the British Isles, told through art.

Leading British creatives, including Simon Armitage, Anthony Gormley, Lubaina Himid, Maxine Peake and Michael Sheen join cultural historians to explore key cultural works that define each age.

Boty is represented in the final episode of the series, Brilliant Isles which “explores how the generation of artists who recorded the shocks of global war gave way in the 1950s and 1960s to an explosion of new voices from across the British Isles, reinventing the arts and creating a richer, more diverse culture. Young artists rebelled against the old establishment, kicking against the confines of class, sex, nation and race. Actress Lesley Sharp performs passages from Shelagh Delaney’s breakthrough play A Taste of Honey which brought the ordinary lives and unheard voices of working class women to a mainstream audience, while Chila Kumari Singh Burman explores the career of pop artist Pauline Boty.” [from the BBC website]

For further information including synopses, clips, broadcasting times and dates and link to iPlayer please see the BBC Programme page here [link]

Pauline Boty signed photo by John Aston sold at RR Auction

Pauline Boty signed photo by John Aston, 1962. Image courtesty of RR Auction

Earlier this week the photo above by John Aston of Boty smoking a cigarette was sold by RR Auction based in Boston, Massachusetts, USA, specialists in rare manuscripts, autographs, and historic artefacts. Signed and inscribed in fountain pen, “To George, Best wishes, Pauline Boty”. Vintage glossy 8.75 x 5.75 inch photo. Price realised: $1,242 [plus Buyer’s Premium]. Estimate: $200+.

Taken in 1962, this is from a series John Aston took which included a portrait of Boty standing in front of a painting by her of Marilyn Monroe, mimicking Monroe’s pose with beads in mouth. The whereabouts of this are now unknown, although it is possible that it was overpainted to become “The Only Blonde in the World”.

Please click here to see the version held by the National Portrait Gallery [link]

Playlist for Pauline Boty added to website

A new Spotify playlist of music relating to Boty is now available. The tracks are organised into sections representing their relevance – as titles or subjects of the works, as soundtracks to her onscreen appearances on TV and film, to her appearances on Ready Steady Go! and to the collaged wall she created in her flat in west London.

Please click here to go to the playlist and see details behind the track selection [link]