Jeremy Moon

Rowan Gallery, London, 1973
Sale, Christie's South Kensington, 8th June 1989, lot 320
Rocket Gallery, London
Private Collection, U.K., from whom acquired by the present owner

Original canvas. The canvas is sound. There is some extremely minor abrasion around the extreme edges, particularly the lower corners. There is a fine line of craqulure to the yellow pigment, and a small area of craquelure to the lower section of red pigment. There is very light surface dirt to the work and a few small spots of dirt towards in the lower half, only visible upon extremely close inspection. Subject to the above the work is in excellent overall condition, with fresh colour and a heavy impasto surface. Inspection under ultraviolet light reveals a few small areas of fluorescence to the yellow pigment, which are possibly retouchings. The work is presented unframed.
"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.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Jeremy Moon died tragically young at the height of his career, a career that saw him show at some of Europe’s most progressive and exciting galleries, and create a small but succinct body of work that today is celebrated in public and private collections across the globe. After reading Law at Cambridge, Moon embarked on a career in advertising but after seeing the large-scale abstract paintings of Bernard Cohen and William Turnbull at the second ‘Situation’ exhibition at London’s Whitechapel Art Gallery in 1961, decided to pursue a career in the arts, enrolling at London’s Central School of Art. His time at the Central was short-lived, and he soon left to focus on his work, relying on the experiences he had gained in the advertising world, which impacted on his artistic development.

 

With his bold use of flat, block colours, Moon soon became a leading figure of the British Abstract scene, beginning with oils and, after the mid-1960s, favouring the newly developed acrylic paints which allowed him a greater degree of artistic freedom. Moon was also one of the first British artists to experiment with shaped canvases, alongside David Hockney and Gerald Laing, although Moon’s work remained rooted in the abstract. Moon drew on his early career in advertising, relying on meticulously worked sketches and designs and a palette reminiscent of the bright and bold colours of 1960s billboards. Showing at London’s Rowan Gallery, his work reflected the forward thinking optimism of a generation of artists, as Matthew Collings writes: 'His paintings express the times in which they were made, what Jackson Pollock called “the aims of the age”' (Mathew Collings, 'Right Wrong Moves', 2006, a transcript of a public talk about Jeremy Moon by Matthew Collings, reproduced www.jeremymoon.com). Moon’s work challenges the ideals of perceptual viewing, and finds the inherent joy in picture-making, something which is made all the more poignant by the motorcycle accident which in 1973, the year the present work was made, led to his untimely death.