Clive Head British, b. 1965
Rebekah, 2008
Oil on canvas
65 3/8 x 85 1/8 in
166 x 216 cm
166 x 216 cm
Rebekah is the last in a small series of paintings and drawings made between 2006 and 2008 where a single figure is placed centrally in a composition – later works...
Rebekah is the last in a small series of paintings and drawings made between 2006 and 2008 where a single figure is placed centrally in a composition – later works tended to feature multiple figures in ever more complex and abstracted patterns. Head’s work of this time was explicitly engaged with the realist tradition of painting although the artist has always been reluctant to be aligned to the photo-realist painters. ‘Rebekah’ was commissioned by the current owner via Clive’s agent at Marlborough, Armin Bienger, on the basis of a detailed drawing. The site is obviously Piccadilly, London, and the model for the central figures was the receptionist at Marlborough. As Clive did not at this time like to paint figures from photographs she was painted from life in his studio in North Yorkshire.
Head was born in Maidstone in 1965 and studied Fine Art at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth from 1983-86. He later gained an MPhil at Lancaster University in 1989 and in 1992 he founded and led the Department of Visual Art at the Scarborough campus of the University of York until 1999. He was represented by Louis K. Meisel Fine Art in New York in the 1990s and Marlborough Fine Art from 2005 to 2014. In 2005 he was commissioned to paint Buckingham Palace for the Golden Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth. During recent years Head was primarily represented by Landau Fine Art of Montreal. He held a major solo exhibition at Hollis Taggart Galleries in New York and at Waterhouse & Dodd (London) in 2019. In 2020 a major solo show was held at the Pellas Gallery in Boston. Head’s works have been exhibited at many major international art fairs including Art Basel, Art Basel Miami, FIAC and TEFAF Maastricht. He now lives and works in Yorkshire.
His early works depict urban street scenes, combining realism with perspectival distortion. These paintings, as with later ones, portray the lived experience of the scene rather than being a purely observational practice. In 2010, Head exhibited three paintings of London scenes at the National Gallery in ‘Canaletto and his Rivals’, breaking the gallery’s record for visitors to an exhibition by a living artist. He later displayed at Dulwich Picture Gallery alongside Nicolas Poussin ‘The Triumph of David’ in 2012.
Head was born in Maidstone in 1965 and studied Fine Art at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth from 1983-86. He later gained an MPhil at Lancaster University in 1989 and in 1992 he founded and led the Department of Visual Art at the Scarborough campus of the University of York until 1999. He was represented by Louis K. Meisel Fine Art in New York in the 1990s and Marlborough Fine Art from 2005 to 2014. In 2005 he was commissioned to paint Buckingham Palace for the Golden Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth. During recent years Head was primarily represented by Landau Fine Art of Montreal. He held a major solo exhibition at Hollis Taggart Galleries in New York and at Waterhouse & Dodd (London) in 2019. In 2020 a major solo show was held at the Pellas Gallery in Boston. Head’s works have been exhibited at many major international art fairs including Art Basel, Art Basel Miami, FIAC and TEFAF Maastricht. He now lives and works in Yorkshire.
His early works depict urban street scenes, combining realism with perspectival distortion. These paintings, as with later ones, portray the lived experience of the scene rather than being a purely observational practice. In 2010, Head exhibited three paintings of London scenes at the National Gallery in ‘Canaletto and his Rivals’, breaking the gallery’s record for visitors to an exhibition by a living artist. He later displayed at Dulwich Picture Gallery alongside Nicolas Poussin ‘The Triumph of David’ in 2012.
Provenance
Marlborough Fine Art, Summer Exhibition 2008Private Collection, Australia (Acquired from above in 2008)