Property from the Estate of Col. Alex Gregory-Hood, O.B.E., M.C.The following two lots have been in the private collection of Alex Gregory-Hood (1915-1999), founder of the Rowan Gallery, who held a key role in changing the artistic views of a post-war British public. They, along with two further lots in the 22 November Modern British Art Evening Sale, were particular favourites of his and they have remained in his family’s collection until now.In 1958, Alex Gregory-Hood was promoted to Colonel commanding the Grenadier Guards and nominated for the Imperial Defence college, which would have led to him becoming a General at a remarkably early age. Legend has it that he asked for 30 minutes to think things over and went for a walk in St James's Park. He returned to Whitehall - and announced his intention of opening an art gallery. In due course, in 1960, he resigned his commission and two years later the Rowan Gallery opened its doors in Lowndes Street, Belgravia. The importance of the gallery in bringing new British abstract and experimental art before the public cannot be overstated (see J. Golding, The Guardian, Obituaries, 28 July 1999).The Rowan Gallery is perhaps best remembered as the gallery that represented Bridget Riley from 1967 and later Sean Scully, (see lot **, 22 November 2017) who remains a friend of the family. Further gallery representations included Antony Donaldson; Brian Fielding; Barry Flanagan (lot 236); John Golding; Anthony Green; Paul Huxley; Phillip King; Michael Craig-Martin; Jeremy Moon; Mark Lancaster and William Tucker. He met two key Cornish artists, Roger Hilton (see lot **, 22 November 2017) and Terry Frost (lot 237) through his friendship with the sculptor Roger Leigh, studio assistant to Barbara Hepworth.Bryan Robertson, the highly influential curator of The Whitechapel Art Gallery from 1952 to 1968 commented ‘Gregory-Hood liked to relax in the country and it was disconcerting after getting used to him as an art gallery director dressed in impeccably conventional dark suits, shirts and ties to find him sweeping into dinner in a patterned flowing kaftan worn in a highly dégagé manner over purple tights’ (see B. Robertson, The Independent, Obituaries, 14 July 1999).

Barry Flanagan, R.A. (1941-2009)

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Price realised GBP 37,500

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GBP 30,000 – GBP 50,000

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Barry Flanagan, R.A. (1941-2009)

pdreeoo

Price realised GBP 37,500

Closed: 23 Nov 2017

Price realised GBP 37,500

Closed: 23 Nov 2017

Details Lot essay Related articles More from

Barry Flanagan, R.A. (1941-2009)
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cloth, plaster, ink and resin, unique
29 in. (73.7 cm.) high
Conceived in 1965.

Acquired by Alex Gregory-Hood, probably at the 1966 exhibition, and by descent.

'Animal, Vegetable and Mineral', Art and Artists, September 1966, p. 63.
T. Hilton and M. Compton (intro.), exhibition catalogue, Barry Flanagan, Venice, British Council, XL Biennale, British Pavilion, 1982, pp. 6, 17, illustrated.
Exhibition catalogue, Barry Flanagan Sculptures, Paris, British Council, Centre Georges Pompidou, 1983, pp. 24, 26, exhibition not numbered, illustrated.
Exhibition catalogue, Barry Flanagan, Recent Sculpture, New York, Pace Gallery, 1983, p. 5.
A. Bowness (ed.), exhibition catalogue, Barry Flanagan prints: 1970-1983, London, Tate Gallery, 1985.
Exhibition catalogue, Masterpieces of the Avantgarde: Three Decades of Contemporary Art: The Sixties, The Seventies, The Eighties, London, Annely Juda, 1985, pp. 206-207, no. 59, illustrated.
T.A. Neff (ed.), exhibition catalogue, A Quiet Revolution: British Sculpture Since 1965, Chicago, Museum of Modern Art, 1987, pp. 93, 177, pl. 42.
'Flanagan Flair', On the Town, July - August 1987.
C. Wallis and A. Wilson, exhibition catalogue, Barry Flanagan Early Works 1965-1982, London, Tate Britain, 2011, pp. 20, 70, 154, no. 70, illustrated.
M. Hammer (ed.), exhibition catalogue, My Generation: A Festival of British Art in the 1960s, Kent, University of Kent, 2015.

London, Rowan Gallery, Barry Flanagan Sculpture, August - September 1966, no. 4.
London, Serpentine Gallery, Barry Flanagan: Sculpture 1965-1978, November 1978 - January 1979, catalogue not traced.
Paris, British Council, Centre Georges Pompidou, Barry Flanagan Sculptures, March - May 1983, exhibition not numbered.
Cambridge, Kettle's Yard, 1965-1972 - when attitudes became form, July - September 1984, catalogue not traced.
London, Annely Juda, Masterpieces of the Avantgarde: Three Decades of Contemporary Art: The Sixties, The Seventies, The Eighties, September - December 1985, no. 59.
Chicago, Museum of Contemporary Art, A Quiet Revolution: British Sculpture Since 1965, January - April 1987, no. 18: this exhibition travelled to San Francisco, Museum of Modern Art, June - July 1987; Newport Beach, Newport Harbour Art Museum, August - October 1987; Washington, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, November 1987 - January 1988; and Buffalo, Albright-Knox Art Gallery, February - April 1988.
London, Tate Britain, Barry Flanagan Early Works 1965-1982, September 2011 - January 2012, no. 70.

Artist's Resale Right ("Droit de Suite"). Artist's Resale Right Regulations 2006 apply to this lot, the buyer agrees to pay us an amount equal to the resale royalty provided for in those Regulations, and we undertake to the buyer to pay such amount to the artist's collection agent.

Brought to you by

Pippa Jacomb

pjacomb@christies.com +44 (0)20 7389 2293

Lot Essay

'Flanagan made a name for himself very quickly with works that remain vivid in the memory. They were original, striking, witty, surprising and distinctive in character. They were considered at the time (more or less) to be Zen, Dada, biomorphic and to be testing the limits of the medium. He has confirmed some of these interpretations, saying later, 'The shape making procedure of gravity filling a given shape was the priority ... There was a gravity filled piece looking like a pepper ... () ... The nature of sculpture was being tested'' (see M. Compton, exhibition catalogue, , Venice, British Council, , British Pavilion, 1982, p. 17).

The title of this work, references the method of making (plaster pour) as well as the sound of its making - in keeping with his experimentation with pataphysics privileging 'the science of imaginary solutions' to problem solving and decision making.

We are very grateful to Jo Melvin for her assistance in preparing this catalogue entry.

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