As the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown continues, IAP will be curating a range of online exhibitions, as well as launching a new website to host them.
Until the end of June, we have assembled a selection of drawings by Chris Gollon. Drawings are very rare in Chris Gollon’s oeuvre, since he was more a straight-to-canvas man; but he was also a consummate draughtsman.
From the artist’s estate, we have just had framed this exquisite drawing, a Gollonesque take on Albrecht Dürer‘s portrait of his great friend and patron. Pirckheimer, a friend of Erasmus, a great humanist and intellectual, loaned the money for Dürer’s trip to Venice from 1505 to 1507, and was rewarded with a series of letters describing the artist’s experiences. In one of these letters Dürer teased Pirckheimer affectionately about his appearance: “nothing makes me more angry than when any one says that you are good-looking; if that were so I should become really ugly. That could make me mad”. Chris does justice to Pirckheimer’s seriousness and sturdy intellect, but also continues that very affectionate teasing between two friends, by deliberately misspelling the name. The deliberate smudging gives the effect of it having been sent to Pirckheimer, through the vicissitudes of weather, high over the alps from Italy, along with one of Dürer’s letters…
Simply contact us to enquire about this work.