£2,000 - £3,000
Alan Lowndes (1921-1978) Portrait of Patricia Mumford (1934-2021) aged 19, signed and dated 1954 lower left, oil on canvas, 51 x 41 cm, frame 56.5 x 66.5 cm, together with a handwritten letter from the artist to the sitter discussing the painting, dated 1973 (2) Provenance: Collection of Patricia Mumford, thence by descent Transcript of the letter dated Feb 3rd 73, 'Dear Pat, I just about remember the portrait because it was so long ago. I'm sorry you did not get any offer from Kalman. He's always had an ambiguous attitude towards my portraits. It annoys me because they are as good as any other paintings I have done. The trouble about the rich collectors is that I don't really know them. I only really know the modest ones of the early days. Amongst the others are mainly the actors and writers & so on who I was friendly with. You could try Richard Attenborough his address is [...] and David Enders [...] and Willis Hall [...] Whether they will give you a good price depends on what you think a good price is. Failing that you could write to Sothebys or to Christies (you get the address from adverts or the London telephone directory) and put a reserve price on it to take its chance in auction. you could also try Geoff Green at the Tib Lane Gallery in Manchester, but don't mention Kalman at all. He's a hard man on money so be careful. Should things improve for you try to hang on to it, for its likely that in time Kalman will be chasing you to sell it. Best Regards Alan. Let me know how you go on with selling of the portrait if you can'
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