Maggi Hambling

Acquired directly from the Artist by The Ivy Restaurant, 2008

Liverpool, Walker Art Gallery, George Always: Portraits of George Melly by Maggi Hambling, 27th February - 31st May 2009, details untraced, illustrated, with tour to National Portrait Gallery, London.

Not viewed out of the frame. Oil on original canvas. The canvas appears sound. There is an extremely minor undulation to the canvas in the upper right quadrant. There is a scratch, measuring approximately 10cm, towards the upper horizontal edge, which may be inkeeping with the artist's working methods. There are some areas of very minor reticulation and craquelure in some of the more impasto areas of paint. Subject to the above, the work appears to be in good overall condition. Ultraviolet light reveals no obvious signs of fluorescence or retouching. The work is framed and glazed, float mounted and housed in a simple painted black wooden frame. Please telephone the department on +44 (0) 207 293 6424 if you have any questions regarding the present work.
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The present work was purchased directly from Hambling in her South London studio. It depicts her dear friend George Melly, the legendary jazz musician, author and raconteur. The pair were regular visitors to The Ivy and the artist particularly requested that the painting be hung in the corner it occupied since 2008, above the table where they most frequently sat. Melly, after years of frequenting loud nightclubs, was slightly deaf and table 16 was the quietest in the house.

Hambling has celebrated her friendship with Melly in several paintings and drawings made from life, and then following his death in 2007 from memory and imagination. George Always I is a ‘ghost’ portrait which is concerned with the simultaneous absence and presence of the subject. It is at once tender, challenging and funny.