Mannequin (1954) by Austin Osman Spare

Mannequinn is a pastel on board picture by Austin Osman Spare from 1954 with a unique history in what is believed to be its original painted Victorian wooden frame. Surrealist in the post-impressionist style. Dimensions including frame: 610mm wide x 708mm tall.

Most of the pastel is applied in short strokes, with a degree of blending. The entire board is covered in pastel except for one area. I have chosen to classify it as a painting, even though it uses neither oil or acrylic paint. Spare's preferred mediums tended to be pastel or pencil which allowed him to create a certain sharpness and other worldly use of line and texture.

During the '40s and '50s, bananas in the UK were held in high esteem and represented luxury, sunshine and sexiness. In the 1950s, the prevalent Gros Michel banana was almost completely wiped out by Panama Disease, and banana supply was briefly extremely limited, boosting their status further.

Provenance

The painting was displayed in Spare's last exhibition in 1955 at the now defunct Archer Gallery in Notting Hill. He passed away the following year. It was part of a series of 9 pictures entitled ‘Still Life’. It was listed in the exhibition catalogue as number 175, ‘Plaster Mannequin’ (see images below). The 1955 Still Life exhibition consisted of:

• 168. Glass and Brass
• 169. Voltairesque
• 170. Transparent and Solid
• 171. Refraction and Reflection
• 172. Elephant in Jade
• 173. Java and Stafford
• 174. The Quick and the Dead
• 175. Plaster Mannequin
• 176. Naive, Negroid and Rococo

According to a well known publisher who has owned 2 paintings from the Still Life exhibition, Mannequin is the best of the Still Life paintings he has seen so far.

Fulgur Press published a facsimile compilation of Spare's exhibition catalogues in 2012, entitled ‘The Exhibition Catalogues of Austin O. Spare’, edited by Robert Shehu-Ansell.

The painting is believed to have been first owned by John Symonds (1914-2006), the journalist, novelist, playwright and prolific biographer of Aleister Crowley. It is likely this was John Symonds' only Spare piece. We do not know if Symonds purchased the piece at the 1955 exhibition or later.

A few months later, the painting was sold by Treadwell's Books to the current owner, known as Frater Aten 252, dealing with the store's founder Dr Christina Oakley-Harrington, who is also an author and the co-founder and literary editor of ‘Abraxas: International Journal for Esoteric Studies’.

Markings on Frame

The rear of the board shows the following written in hand.

• On the frame tape at the top edge of the board:
  ‘Still Life No.175 [scribbled out word] ‘Mannequin’ by Austin Osman Spare '54’
• On the upper part of the board:
  ‘Still Life ‘Plaster Mannequin’’ [Line Break] by Austin Osman Spare [Line Break] 1954’
• In the middle of the board in large letters:
  ‘#1357’

It is difficult to determine what this scribbled out word is, but my guess is that it is 'Mannequin'. We do not know whether the writing on the tape was written at the same time as the lower writing on the board featuring the word ‘Plaster’ and if the word was scribbled out at the time of writing that line or if it occurred later; nor indeed who wrote these lines. The writing on the board is in a different handwriting compared to the writing on the tape. I would guess the writing on the tape was from Spare's own hand, and that the painting's name was abbreviated some time after the auction, hence the scribble. The number #1357 written in the middle of the board may have been an auction lot number if the painting had not been sold at the 1955 exhibition.

Condition

Spare used inferior materials for his paintings and drawings. His pastel on board paintings typically employed a head board from an old bed, like this example. The condition of the wooden frame suggests that it is the original. The painting appears to have never been removed from the frame as the frame sealing tape looks very old and includes the number 175 described below. The front side of the frame is painted, and it is believed it is a repainted Victorian frame. There is a single dead moth behind the glass near the base of the vase, which is present in the 2009 Treadwell's photograph below. The board is showing signs of warping slightly. According to the Fine Art Print Grading Guide, it could be graded as 6/10 or Very Good.

Additional Images

Current Ownership

The painting is currently under the ownership of Frater Aten 252, author of forthcoming title on modern magic ‘The Book of Aten’ and member of the I.O.T. Handsome Books is pleased to be able to offer it for sale on his behalf. Please contact me if you are interested.

About John Symonds

In 1946, John Symonds first met Aleister Crowley (1875-1947). Crowley's will in 1947 named Symonds as his literary executor. Alongside Kenneth Grant (1924-2011), Symonds edited and republished Crowley's autobiography amongst other of his books. Symonds also penned four biographical books, The Great Beast: The Life and Magick of Aleister Crowley (1951), The Magic of Aleister Crowley (1958), The King of the Shadow Realm - Aleister Crowley: His Life and Magic (1989) and The Beast 666: The Life of Aleister Crowley (1997). Israel Regardie referred to him as ‘that most hostile biographer’ because of Symonds' critical attitude towards Crowley's ideas and lifestyle. Symonds and Grant arguably played an important part in keeping Crowley's legacy alive. He also wrote the biography Madame Blavatsky, Medium and Magician (1959). Symonds is however best known amongst the general public for his children's novels from the 1950s.

About Austin Osman Spare

Austin Osman Spare (1886-1956) was an English occultist and artist, as well as a draughtsman and painter. After briefly becoming involved Aleister Crowley's A∴A∴, he developed his own occult philosophy (coined ‘Zos Kia Cultus’ by Kenneth Grant) and magical techniques. The most influential of Spare's books is probably The Book of Pleasure (1913). His techniques differed in approach to the contemporary ceremonial magicians of the day, and included automatic writing, automatic drawing, and sigilisation. Sigil magic is one of the primary techniques of contemporary chaos magic, which was heavily influenced by Spare, along with Discordianism, Robert Anton Wilson, post modernism and the emerging punk scene with its DIY, grass roots attitude, and did not appear until 1976 to 1977. Spare was introduced to Kenneth Grant in 1949 and they became great friends. Grant influenced the direction of Spare's later artwork to include more witchcraft themes and inspired him to write new occult manuscripts, Logomachy of Zos and Zoetic Grimoire of Zos. Grant formed the Typhonian O.T.O. in the early 1970s, which was later shortened to Ordo Typhonis (Typhonian Order). Grant published several books about Austin Spare, including Austin Osman Spare (1960), Images and Oracles of Austin Osman Spare (1975) and Zos Speaks! Encounters with Austin Osman Spare (1998).