Item #55658 An original sketch, pencil with light crayon shading, from the "Valley of Fear" series. Signed by Spare with his initials. With a small unsigned portrait sketch on the reverse (1924). Austin Osman SPARE.
An original sketch, pencil with light crayon shading, from the "Valley of Fear" series. Signed by Spare with his initials. With a small unsigned portrait sketch on the reverse (1924).
An original sketch, pencil with light crayon shading, from the "Valley of Fear" series. Signed by Spare with his initials. With a small unsigned portrait sketch on the reverse (1924).
An original sketch, pencil with light crayon shading, from the "Valley of Fear" series. Signed by Spare with his initials. With a small unsigned portrait sketch on the reverse (1924).

An original sketch, pencil with light crayon shading, from the "Valley of Fear" series. Signed by Spare with his initials. With a small unsigned portrait sketch on the reverse (1924).

Pencil with light crayon shading, on art paper. 28.5cm x 22cm (11 inches x 8 1/2 inches). Very finely drawn, and signed by Spare with his initials in the lower left corner. Five small, naked figures disport themselves around the 'legs' of what appears to be an almost sphinx-like creature, rampant on a rocky outcrop. On the verso of the drawing is another sketch by Spare, a small (approx. 13cm x 8cm - 5 inches x 3.5 inches) portrait sketch of an androgynous, but probably female, human face, presumably a draft sketch. The main drawing was completed in 1924 as one of a series of 10 in a sketchbook which Spare titled "The Valley of Fear." The drawings from the sketchbook, along with those from another entitled "Metamorphosis or Unfinished" were subsequently mixed together and published by Fulgur, in 2008 under the sole title "The Valley of Fear." This drawing is reproduced as the first plate in the Fulgur volume (not counting the frontis-piece) although our notes suggest that it was actually the third in the original "Valley of Fear" sketchbook. A lovely piece in fine condition, with impeccable provenance. Sadly the need for good provenance is becoming ever more important with Spare sketches, with certain sellers on a major on-line auction site flooding the market with what are generally mercifully-awful forgeries. Obviously this work is published and is guaranteed original, and comes with a certificate of authenticity. Fine condition. Item #55658

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