Lot 74: Ian Dury (1942 - 2000)

Ian Dury (1942 - 2000)
Acrylic on board, figurative study of woman in a bikini, titled Honk Honk Its The Bonk, unsigned circa 1967; accompanied by an Evening Standard newspaper article, 2001 - 29½x37½ (75x95cm.), framed

ARKELL, Harriet Blake's pop artist's bring star quality to Academy Evening Standard, 31st May, 2001, p.3
BIRCH, Will Ian Dury: The Definitive Biography London: Sidgwick & Jackson, 2010

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Dury left school at the age of 16 to study painting at Walthamstow Art College, from where he gained entrance to the Royal College of Art in 1964 to study under the tutelage of eminent British artist Peter Blake. In 1967, at the end of his time at the 'Royal College' Dury took part in a group exhibition, Fantasy and Figuration, held at the 'Institute of Contemporary Arts, London alongside contemporaries such as Pat Douthwaite, Herbert Kitchen and Stass Paraskos. It is not known for definite, but is highly possible, that this artwork stems from that exhibition. When asked why he [Dury] did not pursue a career in art, he said, "I got good enough [at art] to realise I wasn't going to be very good." After graduating from the 'Royal' he taught art at various colleges in the south of England, before finding his true artistic vocation as vocalist and lyricist to 'Kilburn & the High Roads', and finding wider fame as leader of the 'The Blockheads'.
The vendor of this painting, an associate of Dury's from his time at the Royal College, has kept the artwork since that period, even arranging for it to be exhibited at the Royal Academy's Summer Exhibition, 2001, when Sir Peter Blake was on the submissions board.