Icon Head 1996 [W/P]



Synthetic polymer paint on paper, c.76 x 55

signed and dated [on reverse: acc.to Deutscher-Menzies 8/01]

Coll.: unknown

This work, clearly a work-on-paper variant of Icon Head (1990), was first shown in HA Bellas 3/96 (photo in Arkley’s archive, as reproduced here).

Self Portrait (1996) [W/P], also in the Bellas show (cat.1) is based on another Byzantine icon source, also first used by Arkley in the 1980s, one that evidently had autobiographical connotations for him.

Provenance

  • auctioned by Deutscher-Menzies, Melb., 20-21 Aug.2001, lot 89 (ill.; details as above; no previous history noted; sold for $6,000 plus buyer’s premium)

Exhibited

  • HA Bellas 3/96, cat.3 (details as above; $2,000)