1985 Works on paper (minor)

As in 1984, Arkley produced a large number of sketches and doodled works on paper, besides the major examples included in the present catalogue. A significant number of these minor works remained in the artist’s collection at his death, including several sketches in the same doubled-line technique used for the large ‘finished’ examples listed; the undated example reproduced here is annotated in pencil, ‘nose out more’, with a second attempt to the right. The profile in this sketch is comparable with the 1941 Masson portrait of André Breton mentioned above under general comments for 1985 (discussing these doubled-line works by Arkley).

See also Arkley’s mid 1980s Sketchbooks, notably no.21, containing several good cactoid heads, and no.24, which includes an extensive series of cacti and heads (some once again using a double line), several specifically noted as drawn in Chapel Street. D 17 in the sequence of his Visual Diaries, inscribed ‘Howard Arkley work book May 1985’ on the cover, is a rich collection of planning notes, source images and sketches relating to work done in both 1985 and 1986, including detailed plans for a large-scale suburban work (quoted and discussed in Carnival 118), and schemes for Tudor houses and villages.