Glenn Brown

Todd Gallery, London
Saatchi Gallery, London
Sale: Christie's, London, Contemporary Art, 27 June 2001, Lot 91
Private Collection, London
Sale: Sotheby's, London, Contemporary Art, 27 June 2002, Lot 134
Acquired directly from the above by the present owner

Sarah Kent, Shark Infested Waters: The Saatchi Collection of British Art in the 90s, London 1994, p. 115, illustrated in colour
Sarah Kent, Richard Cork and Dick Price, Young British Art, The Saatchi Decade, London 1999, p. 73, illustrated in colour

Colour: The colours in the catalogue illustration are fairly accurate although the overall tonality is very slightly deeper and richer in the original. Condition: This work is in very good condition. Very close inspection reveals two very thin rub marks to the extreme overturn centre top and centre bottom edges. No restoration is apparent under ultraviolet light.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
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Executed in 1991 during Glenn Brown's tenure at Goldsmiths College, The Body Snatcher is an extraordinary early work from the artist's highly celebrated painterly cloning of art historical masterpieces. Based on a detail of Karel Appel's 1954 abstract expressionist masterwork, People, Birds and Sun now housed in the Tate collection, the present work marks the incipit of a complex negotiation between mechanical reproduction, artistic translation and expressive detachment. The epitome of postmodern expression in paint, Brown's practice of 'painting paint' invokes the work of masters from art history as empty ciphers through which he obfuscates his own creative persona. Where Brown had previously produced paintings based on the Sci-Fi landscapes of Chris Foss, 1991 represents the watershed for a trans-historical and quasi-cannibalistic engagement with numerous masters from art history. The flattening of the three-dimensional expressionistic gesture forged within this early painting marks the genesis of an artistic dialogue that has since yielded a remarkable corpus after a host of canonical painters: alongside Karel Appel, Auerbach, Fragonard, Dalí, Rembrandt and de Kooning constitute the mainstay of Brown's visual praxis. Emerging from a hugely significant moment in Brown's career, The Body Snatcher ushers in the resolution of Brown's principle subject matter as a mature artist.

 

The Body Snatcher stands as one of the most faithful of Brown's transmutations, effecting a real sense of tromp-l'oeil when encountered firsthand. In contrast to the overt and flamboyant distortions of his more recent work, the subtle conceit of this painting lies in its scale, compositional selection and colour palette. Passed through Brown's hyperrealist prism, Appel's extravagant brushmarks are meticulously paraphrased and rendered flat; with tiny brushes and thinly applied paint Brown diligently and laboriously revises and mutates Appel's energetic expressionism from within. Every brushstroke, ridge of paint, highlight and shadow are translated with the utmost accuracy. However, in choosing to work from reproductions found in books, Brown disregards reverence for the actual artwork-object in favour of the inaccuracies that occur in the mechanical printing process. In The Body Snatcher, the distorted acidic colour palette and zoomed-in detail rendered in the centuries old virtuoso discipline of oil-painting, critiques and sabotages the materiality of paint and gesture pivotal for the 1950s expressionist. Aptly named after the eponymous 1945 film, a system of titling by appropriating pop-culture references typical across the artist's oeuvre, Brown literally snatches and inhabits Karell Appel's People, Birds and Sun to scrutinise, deconstruct, and reformulate preconceived notions of painting, art history and authorship. As one of the very first works by Brown ever produced from an art historical source, The Body Snatcher is a remarkably resolute and complex painting proving Brown's masterful virtuosity from the very earliest moment of his career.