Lot 154
Desmond John Morris (1928- )
Lot 154 Details
Desmond John Morris (1928- ), British
THE AGITATOR (THE NAKED APE PERIOD), COMPLETED 9 FEBRUARY 1973
Oil on "Daler Board"; signed with monogram and dated 73 lower right; signed, and signed with initials, titled and dated 1973 in green ink verso, also dated "Feb 9th '73" in pencil verso, covered with a plywood panel backboard, signed and signed with initials, titled, dated "1973 (Completed 9th Feb 73)", inscribed "(oil on board)" and numbered "25" in black pen and ink in the artist's hand, further dated "1973/4" in black marker to the wood backboard verso
10.25 x 8 in — 26 x 20.3 cm
Estimate $600-$900
Additional Images
Provenance:
Private Collection, Montreal
Literature:
Silvano Levy, "Desmond Morris: 50 years of Surrealism", 1997, pp. 105, 109, illustrated in colour p. 104;
Silvano Levy, "Desmond Morris: Naked Surrealism", 1999, pp. 105, 109, illustrated in colour, p. 104;
"The Agitator" is illustrated in colour on p. 292 of Volume I in “Desmond Morris: Analytical Catalogue Raisonne” by Silvano Levy, 2000-2012
Exhibited:
Stooshnoff Fine Art, London, 1974, No. 24, illustrated p. 51;
Quadrangle Gallery, Oxford, 1976, No. 22;
Lasson Gallery, London, 1976, No. 10;
Swindon Museum and Art Gallery, 1976, No. 49;
Galerie d'Eendt, Amsterdam, 1978, No. 17;
Maypr Gallery, London, 1987, No. 30
Note:
English zoologist, writer, educator, television personality and surrealist painter, Desmond Morris, is best known for his seminal book "The Naked Ape" of 1967.
Recently Silvano Levy used "The Agitator" to illustrate a lecture he delivered at Oxford attended by Sir David Attenborough and Richard Dawkins!