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Michael Clark(British, born 1954)The Deipnosophist: Ian Board, 1977-80 each
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Michael Clark (British, born 1954)
each signed, titled and inscribed 'THE DEIPNOSOPHIST/3 Studies for a portrait/(Head of Ian Board)/MICHAEL CLARK/Mike Clark', one dated '1977-1980' (on board verso)
oil on board
36.5 x 29cm (14 3/8 x 11 7/16in).each
Footnotes
Provenance
The artist, from whom acquired directly by the present owner
Private Collection, U.K.
Ian Board (1929-1994) ran The Colony Room Club in Dean Street, Soho from 1979-1994, taking over from original proprietor Muriel Belcher who opened the club in 1948. The Colony Room became a nucleus for artistic minds such as Francis Bacon, John Deakin and Lucien Freud, Bacon and Muriel becoming synonymous with the club and its volatile reputation. Bacon's presence attracted a new wave of artists such as Michael Clark, Damien Hirst and Peter Blake to name a few, all keen to be at the heart of the Soho scene through the 1970s, '80s and '90s.
Under both Muriel and Board's reigns, the club enjoyed a reputation for eccentrics and diversity, encouraging a liberal environment amidst an oppressed post-War Britain. Beginning as Muriel's loyal barman, Ian Board continued to run the club in this manner after her death, riding on the success of its scandal, an outspoken and notoriously fearsome character himself. Darren Coffield, a member of the club for many years and author of Tales From The Colony Club: Soho's Lost Bohemia, 2020, described Board as "verbally agile, a vigorous persecutor of bores and a tremendous raconteur", (D. Coffield, Tales From The Colony Club: Soho's Lost Bohemia, Unbound, London, 2020).
























