Lot 90: LARKIN, PHILIP, (1922-1985, poet, novelist, jazz critic and librarian, C.H.)

PORTRAIT BY HUMPHREY OCEAN (b. 1951),
pencil drawing, head and shoulders, signed and dated 84 by Humphrey Ocean, 15 x 12 in (38.1 x 30.5 cm).

REFERENCE: The National Portrait Gallery Collection, 1988, by Foister, Gibson, Rogers and Simon.
The final version of the portrait (for which this is a preliminary sketch), now in the National Portrait Gallery, was painted at Larkin's home in Hull and completed on 10 August 1984, the day after his sixty-second birthday. Larkin said 'That is my birthday present' and added that 'It could not have been more flattering without being less of a likeness, nor more of a likeness without being less flattering, which I take to be the definition of a successful portrait...I can certainly recommend Mr Ocean as a portrait painter, in the sense that he was punctual, industrious, entirely untemperamental and full of consideration for the comfort of his sitter.' Ocean reported that at their first meeting 'halfway through lunch, he produced the postcard...of my McCartney picture, took my sleeve like a fifteen year old girl and whispered: "Tell me ALL about him"...from then on nothing was too much trouble.'