In 1964, the Blackman family moved from Highgate to Marylebone in London. It was, as Barbara Blackman recalls, a period of creative exploration and personal reflection. They had three young children who Charles Blackman would collect from school to walk home, hand in hand.

The ink drawing, ‘Visage (Holding Hands)’ echoes this time. In a tri-toned palette he draws two figures holding hands. It courts a playfulness alongside melancholy – a moment of connection isolated from life like an unannounced memory rushing to consciousness.

Some of Blackman’s most revered work, executed in the 1960s, sits at this intersection of sweet and sad. He envisioned shadows, windows and silhouettes as metaphors for the relationships between appearances and realities, coupling and solitude, and the intricate layers of identity that make up the self. As art critic Donald Brook wrote of a 1967 exhibition, “Looking at Blackman is like looking at another’s carefully edited dreams… They are haunting pictures, I think, because, like ghosts, they assume the shape and meaning that the viewer projects upon them.’”

For collectors of Blackman and his early drawings, grasp ‘Visage (Holding Hands)’ before it moves away. It is a study for his series of Dreamers and Lovers, comes with a Certificate of Authenticity from the Charles Blackman Foundation and is newly mounted.

Charles BLACKMAN (1928 - 2018)
'Visage (Holding Hands)' 1964
ink on paper
Image Size: 17 x 13 cm
Dimensions: 35 x 29 x 1 cm
With Certificate of Authenticity from the Charles Blackman Foundation
Comes with Letter of Provenance

Condition: Good. Describes the average used work of art, where the image is in good condition. The margin may need to be framed out due to markings, corner wear, dog ear, small tears or if framed, the frame may have minor damage.

(c) Charles Blackman / Copyright Agency 2024