Vente aux enchères en ligne 14575Modern British Art: Online Sale
Austin Osman Spare (1886-1956)
Lot 33

Austin Osman Spare (1886-1956)

KIA (self portrait)

Prix réalisé

GBP 5,000

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Austin Osman Spare (1886-1956)
KIA (self portrait)
signed with initials and dated 'AOS '04' (lower left); inscribed 'KIA' (lower centre); inscribed again 'ONE' (lower right)
pencil and ink
9¾ x 7⅞ in. (24.8 x 20 cm.)

Anonymous sale; Christie's, London, 12 May 1994, lot 21, where purchased by the present owner.

Note du spécialiste

The present work is probably an unused vignette for Austin Osman Spare's first book, Earth:Inferno, published in 1905. Influenced heavily by Dante's Inferno, it was conceived as an anti-establishment reaction to the publicity surrounding Spare's inclusion in the Royal Academy summer exhibition in 1904. 'Kia' was Spare's term for the metaphysical essence of the 'Self', the hidden subconscious symbolised here by the blindfolded figure reflecting Spare's profile in a mirror. The vulture and skull reveal Spare's preoccupation with death as a means of transformation.

We are very grateful to Robert Ansell for his assistance in preparing this catalogue entry, and those for lots 36, 39, 56, 63 and 66.

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