Eleven Emblems of Violence

Tom Phillips RA (1937-2023)

Large vintage artists proof screenprint by Tom Phillips.

Eleven Emblems of Violence. signed and denoted a/p in red pencil. The edition size was a small 50 copies. A striking image with gold inks.

One from the folio ‘A Walk to the Studio’, as found in the Tate collection.  Printed by Waddington Galleries, bearing a W blindstamp lower right.

Collections: the Tate; British council Art Collection; the V&A Museum; National Museum of Wales

Notes on the artist’s website (tomphillips.co.uk) about this work:

“For the fifth work in the suite I put together images of implied anger and violence; principally a cigarette packet scarred with magnificent and furious drawing, done perhaps by someone driven to miniature and confined brutality as he (or she) waited for that feared and/or needed phone call. Perhaps the resemblance to the map of Australia in the large mark is mere coincidence. The other signs I have used are also partly metaphorical since the spirit of spite plays little part in the functional nailholes and accidental tears which a piece of corrugated iron suffers in its shifting history as a shield to various building sites. Perhaps it is because they so often act as the veil of vandalism, and their rusted, cut and perforated selves are mere allegorical masks of what so often goes on behind them, that I find their stigmatized surfaces so potent. On a more celebratory note I have used the letters ER from a piece of  graffiti saying in full ‘we are the bovver boys, dave and fred’ as a reminder that this portfolio was finished in Jubilee Year.”

Measurements: 81 x 60 cm image, 101 x 71 cm sheet size

Condition: In excellent condition, never framed. Faint time toning right on the edge of the paper on the left hand side, very minor.

£295 + Shipping