A Preliminary Inventory of His Art Collection at the Harry Ransom
Center
Creator:
Spare, Austin Osman, 1886-1956
Title:
Austin Osman Spare Art Collection
Dates:
circa 1909-1955
Extent:
32 items (30 drawings, one painting, one handwritten letter signed)
Abstract:
Thirty artworks and one handwritten letter
signed by the British artist Austin Osman Spare, and one portrait of Spare by W. W.
(William
Watson) Peploe. Included are sketches, drawings and one painting dating from circa
1909 to
1955. Subjects include portraits and self- portraits and both “automatic” and figure
drawings.
Call Number:
Art Collection AR-00260
Language:
English
Access:
Open for research. Please note that a minimum of 24 hours notice is required to pull art materials to the Ransom Center's Reading and Viewing Room. Some materials may be restricted from viewing. To make an appointment or to reserve art materials, please contact the Center's staff at art@hrc.utexas.edu
The collection consists of 30 drawings, one painting, and one handwritten letter signed
by
or related to Austin Osman Spare (British, 1888-1956). All artworks are by Spare except
for
one portrait of Spare by W. W. (William Watson) Peploe (British, 1869-1933). Included
are
Spare’s portraits of Richard Church, Henry Miller, and Igor Stravinsky, as well as
three
self-portraits. Among the drawings are a number of “automatic” drawings, as well as
illustrations for Spare’s The Book of Pleasure (Self-Love): The
Psychology of Ecstacy (1913). Dated works are arranged chronologically; undated
works are listed by accession number. When possible, titles were transcribed from
the items
and appear in single quotes; all other information supplied by the cataloger.
Related Material
The Harry Ransom Center has other works by and related to Spare.
The Frederick Carter Art Collection (AR-00039) contains articles by Spare on “The
Grotesque” and “Automatic Drawing,” which were published in Form: A Quarterly of the Arts, a periodical of which Spare was an
editor.
The Vernon Hill Art Collection (AR-00363) contains a drawn portrait of Spare by Hill
(79.330).
Spare correspondence is located in the following Ransom Center Manuscripts holdings:
the
Clifford Bax Collection (MS-00271), the Oswell Blakeston Papers (MS-00405), the Alistair
Crowley Collection (MS-01002), the John Lane Company Records (MS-02195), and the W.
B.Yeats
Collection (MS-04619).
Additional Spare materials are also held in the Center’s in the
Richard Church Literary File Photography Collection (PH-02725) and in the Center's
Library.
