McTear's
Lot 572
* PETER HOWSON OBE (SCOTTISH b 1958), THE CRUCIFIXION oil on canvas, signed 182.9cm x 121.9cm (72 x 48 inches) Framed. Provenance: Lot 165 Christie's London 16th April 2008 where sold for £19,700 (premium) and acquired by a lady, the current vendor. Literature: Robert Heller, Peter Howson , Edinburgh, 2003, p. 151, illustrated. Note: The painting depicts the model Elaine Johnson. In discussing the present work Howson stated,'I was actually captivated by her as a model. She's probably the perfect model for me. I did many drawings and quite a few paintings'. 'One of them - yet again - landed Howson in the soup of controversy. He painted Elaine nude, crucified on the cross. He recognizes this was 'a pornographic, almost a blasphemous painting' - though he considers it a good one. The late Cardinal Winning, no stranger to controversy himself, was unimpressed and shocked, calling the work 'evil'. At the time, Howson was unmoved by the criticism. (R.Heller, Peter Howson , Edinburgh, 2003, p. 150). The Crucifixion was painted in 1999, only a few years after Howson returned from Bosnia having experienced the horrors of war. His subsequent hugely successful exhibition at The Imperial War Museum re-defined war art as Howson depicted graphic scenes with honest and disturbingly brutal reality. Perhaps his most controversial work from Bosnia was " Croatian and Muslim " in which two Croatian men were violently raping a Muslim woman. The setting was a domestic home, not a battlefield and there are no guns or obvious paraphernalia of war. The two vulgar figures committing the rape are not obviously soldiers and they certainly aren't obviously of any specific nationality or religion and nor is the female victim. If this painting had been untitled and never shown as part of the Bosnia exhibition at the IWM, there's no real evidence that it has anything to do with war. However Howson deliberately titles the piece, "Croatian and Muslim" not "Soldiers and Victim" or anything similarly vague but specifically with the two words which he knows will define the work. Had he wished to be even more confrontational, he might have titled it "Christian and Muslim", for there can be little doubt that in his mind, religion, war and the suffering of the innocent are the key themes of this work. Although hung for the IWM exhibition, the institution declined to acquire the painting for their permanent collection. This exclusion caused uproar and a considerable polarisation of opinion. Many argued that validity of the painting was compromised as the work had been produced based on oral accounts rather than an actual witnessed event. Others challenged the museum’s decision arguing that Croatian and Muslim had been rejected because of its graphic imagery and politically provocative nature. This uncomfortable and public situation was resolved when David Bowie chose to purchase the painting. Speaking in the New York Times at the time Bowie described it as ‘the most evocative and devastating painting’. It was reported that Bowie paid a mere £18,000 for the painting which was resold as lot 209 11th November 2016 Sotheby's London for £173,000 (premium). Not for the first time, Howson returned to the themes of religion and the suffering of the innocent with The Crucifixion in 1999. Despite the artist's reported remarks, it's very difficult to fathom how this work even partially fulfils the literal definition of "pornographic". The stark nakedness may be uncomfortable for some, but this painting is surely about suffering and especially the suffering of women. It was no great surprise to learn that the purchaser of this painting in 2008 (and the current vendor) is a woman. In every respect, The Crucifixion is Howson-max. It is powerful, thought provoking and controversial.
![* Peter Howson [b.1958]-The Boxer,:-signed and dated '87red chalk drawing29 x 22cm.](https://cdn.globalauctionplatform.com/35b7cbf0-a5e0-4f46-b584-aa42016ee82d/9f04497e-88fc-46b3-95c7-aa4f00d7ecef/468x382.jpg)
