Austin Osman Spare

The following items are from the collection of Coil, the premier occult band founded by John Balance and Peter Christopherson. The following pencil drawings were made by Spare c.1924 and are part of the series titled the Book of Ugly Ecstasy. These are completed drawings are are reproduced in the book of that title published by Fugur in1996. Each is 16 inches by 12 inches. Despite the high quality of Fulgur production the originals have a subtlty bot found in reproduction and certainly not present in the electronic images presented here. All are initialled by Spare, indicating that he had completed them and considered them worthy of presentation

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Drawing 1
A hirsute woman in classic Spare pose with a lighting bolt emerging from one eye and a tear from the other. An amorphous diabolic figure lurks behind her £430 (SOLD)

Drawing 2
Woman, perhaps horned and with a hint a wings-like cloak moves above an exquisately drawn multi-headed grotesque exuding snot - the sexual imagery is rampant £300 (SOLD)

Drawing 3
Female nude in classic Spare posture is overshadowed by immense, amorphous diabolic figure £450 (SOLD)

Drawing 4
Nude woman with short legs reaches behind herself to have some sort of contact with a more amorphous grotesque male figure. A face-like object in her hand appears to relate to this contact. Enigmatic sexual imagery £350 (SOLD)

Drawing 5
The classic Spare motif of a face with lightning emerging from the eye (this one having a bindu point wart too!) emerges from between the dleiberately shortened legs of a finely drawn satyr with a face-phallus. He is accompanied by two amorphous figures one either side of him £350 (SOLD)

Drawing 6
Horned grotesque man-nbeast on all fours, a face on his tale is overlooked by a finely drawn grotesue head to which it appears connected by swirling energy lines, perhaps suggesting some atavism £250 (SOLD)

Drawing 7
A goatheaded being, multibreasted like Ishtar, is pawed by a frenzied sphinx whilst an astral head passes by £435 (SOLD)

Drawing 8
A distorted being throttles a twisted dwarf whilst masturbating a grotesque old man. One wonders if this is an illusion to eroto-asphyxiation £435 (SOLD)

Drawing 9
A satyr and ox creature appear to be examining an enigmatic object, perhaps a decaying head, whilst a squatting woman greedily laps up the effluvia that spills down down (SOLD)

Drawing 10
A bull man appears to masturbating whilst resing his hand on the fore-arm of a groteque old man (with a finely drawn face) some astral effluvia drips to the ground from him £435 (SOLD)