Live Auction 16044Modern | British & Irish Art
Terence Cuneo (1907-1996)
Lot 100

Terence Cuneo (1907-1996)

Portrait of a Fireman

Closed21 March 2018

Price Realised

GBP 17,500

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Terence Cuneo (1907-1996)
Portrait of a Fireman
signed '.CUNEO.' (lower left), signed again and inscribed 'POTRAIT OF A FIREMAN/CAPE TOWN SHED/SOUTH AFRICA/Terence Cuneo.' (on the reverse)
oil on canvas
24 x 20 in. (61 x 51 cm.)

Acquired by the present owner's parents in 1980.

Specialist note

‘I have driven locomotives a lot in many parts of the world ... I think to paint engines, one has really got to drive them ... by driving the thing and realising that your puny hands can control this monster … the mere fact of being saturated with this thought makes you paint them correctly, makes you paint their weight and their power’ (T. Cuneo, in an interview with James Mellen, IWM Oral History, 1978, Cat no. 3817, Reel 4, 02:48-03:40).