Lot 96: Jim Page-Roberts (b. 1925)

Jim Page-Roberts (b. 1925)
Space Pig
signed and dated 'PAGE ROBERTS/1982' (on the underside)
elm
30 in. (76.2 cm.), high

Space Pig was conceived over a period of a few years, and was completed in 1982. At the artist's house and studio in Great Chishill, Cambridgeshire, three large elm trees had died in his garden. When felled, these were marked into possible pieces for sculpture, depicting, with paintings on paper, people and animals that had in ancient times walked the adjacent Icknield Way. The pieces were roughed out by chain saw and left to season beneath a nearby belt of pine trees. This begging/space-looking piece was immediately christened Space Pig, and was lent to the Royal Netherlands Embassy from 1997-2010 until offered in the present sale.