Benches

Tom Phillips RA (1937-2023)

Large vintage screenprinted poster handsigned in pencil by Tom Phillips which we can’t find anywhere else or referenced even.  What is referenced is the original work, Benches, a triptych of acrylic paintings owned by the Tate which this is a screenprinted poster of.

The sheet is signed in pencil by the artist to the lower right.  It bears (faintly) some text relating to Tate publication along the bottom which is how we know this is a screenprinted poster.  The work was printed in 1970 and comes from a large archive of the artist’s prints from the 70’s.

From the Tate gallery website, the detail behind the original painting is as follows: “The artist chose the images for the three panels from picture postcards which either he had purchased or had been sent to him. The images of the left and right canvases come from two postcards, taken on different occasions, of the same location in Battersea Park, London; the six images on the central panel are of six different British parks. The common feature of all the scenes is a park bench, and the general theme of the picture is mortality.

Phillips was prompted to paint the picture after he bought in February 1970 the postcard of Battersea Park from which he derived the image for the first canvas, that on the left.”

Measurements: 56 x 101 cm sheet

Condition: Overall in very good condition, the colours are strong and vibrant, there is some light creasing to the sheet occasional to the margins. A small area of little dot sized indents to the sheet in the bottom margin. A very small mark in one of the blue stripes. On the back of the sheet there are two vertical creases visible (see photos) but these do not show through onto the front.

This work has now been sold