John Byrne (British, 1940-2023)
The Rabbit (1969)
signed 'Patrick' (lower right), further titled and signed (to backboard, verso)
oil on panel
59.5 x 75cm (23 7/16 x 29 1/2in).
Footnotes:
Provenance
With Portal Gallery, London.
Private collection, UK.

In 1967, John Byrne sent a work to the Portal Gallery, claiming it was by his father Patrick Byrne, simply signed 'Patrick'. A cover letter detailed his father's hard, lonely life, and claimed that there were another 50 works by him at his small house in Dunoon. It seems that this was partly for his amusement at inventing characters, but also thinking that a gallery, which at the time exhibited self-taught artists, might not be interested in work by a highly skilled art school trained painter. The rouse worked, and a selection of works were exhibited in 1967, kicking off Byrne's professional artistic career down south. The exhibition, filled with dream-like images was a success. The hoax was found out, but the exhibition attracted attention, in particular from the Beatles. Despite his cover being blown, Byrne continued to produce work under the pseudonym of Patrick (1967 to c.1972) and left his job at a carpet factory to become a full-time professional artist.

A series of exhibitions at Portal Galleries soon followed over the next few years. The cheaper gouache was replaced with expensive oils, painstakingly worked over time. The Rabbit is a wonderful and rare example from this period, with Bryne's exceptionally fine linework, creating the animated surface texture of grassland and animal fur.
This lot is subject to the following lot symbols: AR
AR Goods subject to Artists Resale Right Additional Premium.

Presents well overall.
The horizontal grain of the panel is visible throughout.
Some light surface scuffs and scrapes.
Inspection under UV light shows a few possible dashes of re-touching to the black paint in the on the upper right edge, not conclusive though.

Overall frame dimensions: 81.5 x 66.5 x 2.5 cm. Not glazed.