Study for Oxford Street Building Site (recto)
Study for Oxford Street Building Site (?) (verso)

ⓒ Work in copyright. All rights reserved.

Maker

(artist)
1931-2024

Title

Study for Oxford Street Building Site (recto)
Study for Oxford Street Building Site (?) (verso)

Date of Production

(circa) 1957 - 1959

Medium

graphite over squaring up in red fabricated chalk (recto), black chalk squared up in graphite (verso), on wove paper with rounded corners

Dimensions

Height: 25.9 cm
Width: 17.9 cm

Object Number

D.2010.XX.2

Mode of Acquisition

Frank Helmuth Auerbach, gift, 15.2.2010

Credit

Courtauld Gallery, London (Samuel Courtauld Trust)

Location

Not currently on display

Keywords

Label Text

This drawing is from a sketchbook where Frank Auerbach recorded scenes from the construction sites on Oxford Street in London following the devastation of World War II. The red squaring grid would have eased the process of transferring the composition to a larger painting surface.

Inscriptions

Watermark: Watermark: none.

Inscription: Recto (all within the drawing, graphite, artist’s hand): boxes in grid numbered from “1” to “7” across upper edge and from “1” to “10” vertically down left edge; left upper edge: “pink”; twice at upper centre: “green”; centre: “red wheels”, “sandy yellow” and “browner ground”; right of centre: “No eat[...?] / rubble / 2R”; lower left, corner: “Study for Oxford Street / [illegible]”. Verso (within the drawing, all in black chalk, artist’s hand): boxes in grid numbered “1” to “10” across upper edge and “1” to “7” vertically down left edge; upper left: “yellow / light / 4r”; centre : “Red / light”; right of centre: “purple pi”; lower centre: “pink / [illegible]”.

Collector's mark: none.

Provenance

Gift from the artist in 2010

Exhibition History

Courtauld Connects Regional Programme: The Artful Line: Drawings from the Harris collection and The Courtauld Gallery, The Harris Museum and Art Gallery, Preston, 15/02/2020-18/10/2020
Special Display - The Grid, Courtauld Gallery, London, 26/01/2012-28/05/2012
Frank Auerbach - London Building Sites 1952-62, Courtauld Gallery, London, 15/10/2009-17/01/2010

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