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Thomas James Morgan (1949-2020) Figural Oil Portrait Painting - $3,000 (Johnston, Rhode Island)
condition:
excellent
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On verso is an inscription on the stretcher indicating it was bought at the Thomas Agnew Gallery in London, a gallery that was known to have exhibited Morgan's work. There is also the vintage original gallery label attached to the back as well that has the stock catalog information. Pretty much everything you would want to see on one of Morgan's paintings. This painting is in very good condition. Under a black light it shows no signs of paint loss, in-painting or repair. Please view all photographs as I provided multiple images for your inspection.
Please call me at show contact info with any questions or to view the painting with no obligations to buy. Thank you, Tom.
Unframed the painting measures 9" wide x 15" in height and together with the original wooden frame it measures 15" x 21". The handsome frame has a depth of 3" and is in overall good condition with some very minor surface abrasions consistent with its age. This original Howard Morgan conversational painting is a small gem! It will make for a welcome addition to any savvy art connoisseur's collection.
Howard James Morgan was a British portrait painter considered one of the most daring of modern portrait painters, whose fluent and bravura technique and singular character marked him out as one of the greatest portraitists of his age. The art dealer Philip Mould said of him. "He was a proper painter in a climate where there are not many." "He belonged to the virtuoso tradition of Lawrence, Sargent, and de Lazlo. Anyone tuned into portrait painting realized they were dealing with someone special."
While Morgan was most famous for his portraits, he also painted landscapes, religious pictures and murals, but his renown will ultimately rest in his conversation paintings (similar to the one being offered here today) which are often profoundly disturbing and tantalizingly indecipherable, demanding but with an underlying humor.
As for the artist, Howard James Morgan was born on April 21, 1949 in Denbigh, north Wales, the only child of Thomas and Olive Morgan. His father was a devout lay preacher, who would go to Rhyl beach to sermonize to passing holiday makers. Despite a lack of artistic inclinations in the family, Morgan was drawing on his own accord from an early age.
At Fairfax High School, Sutton Coldfield, where his father became deputy headmaster, Morgan was thrown out of art lessons "as the teacher said I was spoiling classes for others by taking all the attention," but he was saved by the arrival of a new art teacher.
Morgan studied art at the Newcastle Fine Art University, which had long been run on radical and unstructured lines by Victor Pasmore and Richard Hamilton. "It saw itself as the avant-garde," Morgan recalled, "but fortunately it still had remnants of the ancient regime." He caught the eye of Leonard Evetts, who, on hearing that Morgan was using paints from the shop downstairs said "not anymore, my boy, you will make your own paint from now on."
Evetts instructed Morgan in the technical side of painting, from tempura, fresco, stretching and lining to making paint, unfashionable skills that Morgan honed throughout his career. "I am not puritan," Morgan said, "but whilst all my contemporaries were doing the modern idea of art, the abstract and conceptual, I was getting taught the fundamentals, and it was invigorating." Morgan took a serious interest in the artistic practices of the past to inform his technique. He refused to use modern machine made paint and brushes, preferring the laborious process of grinding his own paint, believing this created stronger colors and a thicker, more stable impasto to give his painting permanency.
Despite his father's reservations at him becoming an artist, he moved to London after university, lodging in the church of Saint Peter's, Vauxhall. Arriving with just a rucksack and 200 pounds, he was forced to make his own way. It was here that he met Peter (now Lord) Lilley, a member of the congregation, who won Morgan his first commission; a portrait of the former Prime Minister, Alec Douglas-Home, for the Carlton Club. "He had this extraordinary ability to capture the essence of person," Lilly recalled.
In 1982, Princess Antonia, Marchioness of Douro, commissioned Morgan to paint murals for the private dining room at Aspley House. She propelled him into London society, and it was at Apsley House that Morgan met the art dealer Anthony Mould, who bought Morgan's first self-portrait for NatWest Bank, "probably the best thing he ever painted," said Mould (although many say it is his conversation piece of his beloved Chelsea Arts Club). Morgan and Mould organized three exhibitions together, one held in Claridge's with a wild, riotous opening party; "it beggared us both," said Morgan'
This exhibition was the first showing of Morgan's series of jazz paintings, some featuring his friend, the musician, George Melly. The star of the show, a large triptych of the Golden Gate Quartet, was bought by Andrew Lloyd Webber. He went on to his exhibit his work in numerous exhibitions
Howard Morgan was elected as a member of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters in 1986. His work in this field is exceptional and reflected in numerous Royal commissions. Most notably to name a few these include HM The Queen Elizabeth II, HM The Queen Mother Queen Elizabeth, Queen Beatrix of Netherlands and HRH Prince Michael of Kent. A particularly striking portrait of Dame Antoinette Sibley is another notable commission which, with several others, is on permanent display at the National Portrait Gallery in London.
In 1990, the Richmond Gallery in London devoted an opening night to just one painting: 'La Soirée du Comte Frederique de la Chasseur'. Throughout his career Morgan had numerous high profile portrait commissions and his work has been in many exhibitions and galleries including the Thomas Agnew gallery in London, where this painting was originally purchased. Other exhibitions and galleries include Anthony Mould, Claridges, Cadogan Contemporary Watercolours and the Eaton Gallery, just to name a few.
Morgan was steadfast in his belief that certain traditional methods got the best results. Eschewing modern short-cuts, he painted from life and never from photographs, this meant his studio resembled the stage set of a London theatre. To give flavour to his imaginary backdrops he would hire up to ten actors, for weeks at a time, dressing them up in an extraordinary array of costumes. "I worry about getting bored of painting people's portraits," he said, "so I like to add some drama."
Morgan was a friend to many in the British Conservative Party, and the swaggering vigor and virtuoso effects of his conversation pieces were hugely popular during the 1980's, at a time when politicians, aristocrats and writers embraced his socially self-confident and occasionally, sexually suggestive paintings.
In 1995 William Packer, the art critic for the Financial Times, arguably the most respected, had this to say about Morgan's work. "...as a painter, he is nothing if not brave. To take on first the portrait on the grand scale, and then the full-blown conversation piece is to set oneself not merely against the standards of one's contemporaries, but against the masters in the great tradition. If to do so is then inevitably to invite particular criticism, both fair and unfair, it is also to command respect.
In 1977 Morgan married Susie Sandilands, a designer, and they had three children, Alexander, Romilly and Rupert. After they divorced, in 2004 he married Sarah Milligan, an abstract painter, and they had three children, twins, Perseus and Velvet, and then Samuel.
Although he claimed his horse Doric was his only friend, Morgan was a great conversationalist, affable and willing to shock and tease, and he made friends quickly. Famous sitters included Tom Stoppard, Paul Dirac and Philip Larkin, but he was just as passionate painting "forgotten people."
Howard James Morgan passed away at the age of 71 on September 22, 2020. Born to the brush, Howard was buried with his paints, palette and brushes.
Again, please call me at show contact info with any questions or to view the painting with no obligations to buy. Thank you, Tom.