ALLEN JONES’ POSTER DESIGN FOR 1972 MUNICH OLYMPIC GAMES TO SELL AT BONHAMS
The original preparatory painting for the acclaimed British painter, sculptor and printmaker Allen Jones’ poster for the ill-fated 1972 Munich Olympics is to be sold at Bonhams, Knightsbridge, as part of the Vision 21 sale on 16 March 2011. It has attracted a pre-sale estimate of £7,000 – 9,000.
Jones was one of 35 leading contemporary artists commissioned to design a poster to promote the 1972 Olympic Games in 1970.
In the same year, Jones, who is better known for his ‘human and highly-sexualised furniture’, was approached by film director, Stanley Kubrick, to design a set for his new film, A Clockwork Orange. Jones refused the offer as there was no fee involved.
This Olympic poster exhibits Allen’s Pop Art influences and echoes the tangled bodies he used in paintings such as 1963’s Hermaphrodite.
The 1972 Olympic Games were a success for design in general: they also saw the introduction of the now-universal sports pictograms designed by Otl Aicher.
Bonhams, founded in 1793, is one of the world's oldest and largest auctioneers of fine art and antiques. The present company was formed by the merger in November 2001 of Bonhams & Brooks and Phillips Son and Neale UK. In August 2002, the company acquired Butterfields, the principal firm of auctioneers on the West Coast of America. Today, Bonhams offers more sales than any of its rivals, through two major salerooms in London: New Bond Street, and Knightsbridge, and a further five throughout the UK. Sales are also held in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Carmel, New York and Boston in the USA; Toronto, Canada; and France, Monaco, Australia, Hong Kong and Dubai. Bonhams has a worldwide network of offices and regional representatives in 25 countries offering sales advice and valuation services in 57 specialist areas. By the end of 2009, Bonhams had become UK market leaders in ten key specialist collecting areas. For a full listing of upcoming sales, plus details of Bonhams specialist departments, go to www.bonhams.com.
