Megan Littlewood
Sale Coordinator
The Estate of Marianne Faithfull
Lot 29
Marlene Dumas (South African, born 1953): A portrait of Marianne Faithfull, with dedication "Say it in Broken English", 2014,
Ending from 3 December 2025, 12:00 GMT
Online, London, Knightsbridge£2,500 - £3,000
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Rebecca Anthony
Associate Specialist
Fred Lawton
Cataloguer
Marlene Dumas (South African, born 1953): A portrait of Marianne Faithfull, with dedication "Say it in Broken English",
2014,
piezograph print, in black, grey and heightened with blue, numbered 100/100, and signed and dated 'MDumas 2014-' (lower left), and inscribed 'say it in -/ Broken English' (lower right), framed and glazed,
overall 24in x 28in (61cm x 71cm)
piezograph print, in black, grey and heightened with blue, numbered 100/100, and signed and dated 'MDumas 2014-' (lower left), and inscribed 'say it in -/ Broken English' (lower right), framed and glazed,
overall 24in x 28in (61cm x 71cm)
Footnotes
When Marianne curated Innocence and Experience with John Dunbar at the Tate Liverpool in 2012, she selected works by some of her favourite artists including two paintings of members of the Baader Meinhof by Marlene Dumas; that terrorist group had been Marianne's inspiration for her lyrics to the song 'Broken English'.
Dumas then returned the compliment by painting a portrait of Marianne which she inscribed "Say It In Broken English", a lyric refrain from Marianne's song. The portrait was included in "Marlene Dumas: The Image As Burden" exhibition at the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam. Marianne attended the private view on September 3rd, 2014 saying "I am so honoured and delighted that Marlene has drawn my portrait and I love it!" The exhibition transferred to Tate Modern in February 2015. Marlene gifted Marianne the present lot at the private view and it hung in the sitting room of Marianne's apartment on Boulevard du Montparnasse and appeared in several photographs taken there.
Marlene Dumas was born and raised in Cape Town, South Africa. From 1972 to 1975 she attended Cape Town University, where she studied for a BA in Visual Arts before completing her studies in Haarlem, in the Netherlands. Since 1976, she has been living and working in Amsterdam and is regarded as one of the most influential contemporary portrait artists today.
This work can also be seen in the Nowness video, where Marianne gives a tour of her Paris apartment, first seen at 0:01.
Bonhams would like to thank Andrew Batt for his assistance in cataloguing the pieces from the Estate of Marianne Faithfull.
Provenance:
Property from The Estate of Marianne Faithfull