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. These are some of Spares most enigmatic, challenging and most finely drawn workings. All are initialled and numbered by Spare

. Drawing 6
A winged but armless multibreasted, multifaced tailed female figure stands astride a grotesque unicorn faced flying serpent, presumably phallic £2875

Drawing 7
Bizarre unicorn man appears to be running in more than one direction at once, a snake spitting lightning venom encircles his wrist - a phallic mystery? £2875

Drawing 12
A Grotesque hermaphrodite satyr cups his/her breast whilst observing a taloned figure with suggestions of wings, tongue hanging out, leaping forth from a morass of ugly faces £2875

Drawing 16
A figure of ambiguous sex has lines of energy spurting from his right palm whilst he holds the head of a woman who stares into the eyes of a disembodied male head, behind them the head of an animal and a grotesque man appear to be manifsting from the same shimmering lines of energy £2875

Drawing 19
A cacophony of grotesque heads surge into manifestation above a strange sphinx creature £2875



These are part of the same series but are not initialled. These appear to be truly automatic and may be considered as prepartions for the complete drawings of the Book of Ugly Ecstasy.

Drawing A
A distorted satyr thrust his sex at a cavorting female figure which is barely manifest. Two grotesque heads, one apparently strangling the other lurk in the corner. £435 SOLD

Drawing B
An astral snake spurt venom towards the sex of a grotesque woman £435 SOLD

Drawing C
Ugly male figure appears to be exchanging energy with an amorphous dragon being £435 SOLD

Drawing D
A rather inelegant lady, snake around her neck appears to be caressing the thigh of a gentleman whose ugliness is finely drawn whilst he squeezes his nipple. Meanwhile another gentleman manipulates her breast £435





and some other items, not from the Ugly Ecstasy series!

Dreamscape
Pencil and watercolour. 10.5ins x16.5ins Signed and dated 1947 on rear. Of this item John Balance says:- "This landscape painting was previously in the collection of Maurice Barbarnell, then the editor of Psychic News. He bought it directly from Spare himself, at the famous Archer Gallery exhibition held in London in 1947 where it was picture No.107.and entitled "Dreamscape". The landscape is quite a rare subject for Austin Spare. For some reason I strongly connect this particular picture with the imagery and literature of the fantastic occult writer and associate of Spare. The Welshman Arthur Machen, in particular with his novel "The Hill of Dreams". It is a wonderful small painting. I bought from the Henry Boxer gallery in Kengsington Church Street at the Fulgur Press launch of their AOS book "The Witches Sabbath/ Axiomata" in 1992.It was listed as painting No.33 in the Fulgur's printed catalogue of the exhibition. The trees in the picture contain suggested details of Tree Spirits, nyads and dryads,male and female. The males being on the left of the picture, the females to the right,their arms uplifted as they turn into the branches of the trees. A close friend and I once watched as the mists and clouds in the scenery became darker and denser moving through the painted sky, from left to right, and eventually unleashed a aura of cloudburst into the painting. A deft unleashing of magickal moisture." £2500 SOLD

Tramp
Pastel 15ins x 19ins.. "No 80 Tramp" signed on back and dated 1954 Of this item John Balance says:- "Bought at Sotherby's auction house,from the London Bond Street branch in the late 90's.It was part of a collection of about 12-15 excellent and variously styled Spare's that came up as the result of the death of a collector in the North of England. A fine and unusually worked portrait of a tramp. Quite often these were quickly executed' Southwark types' pastels, done fast but brilliantly for beer money or for sale in one of the various public house Austin Spare solo picture shows he organised locally.But this picture has a more 'ectoplasmic', miasimic dream-content in which the background merges with the facial details and back again. The face of a somewhat sinister cowled figure whose facial features can be seen being turning sideways away from the tramp and also appears to be communicatiing, whispering something directly to the eager listener, can be interpreted from the writhing coolourful formlessness to the left of the subject. It is a subtle, powerful and quixotic portrait of someone one suspects Spare knew well enough to add these bewitching extra depths to. The picture was bought by Henry Boxer, a well established and respected dealer in outsider and visionary art and then on to John Balance of COIL. It hung in the hallway of Threshold house for several years as regular visitors will testify." £3500 SOLD

Pencil drawing on paper with a green watercolour wash
Paper approx 11 x 16" It is intialled 'AOS' on one of the faces. John Balance describes it thus.It's condition fair to good. The foxing looks a bit worse in photo than in real life and can easily be removed by a picture restorer at very little cost. This is one of a series of very similar drawings Spare did. He tended to use this unuusual coloured green wash technique for drawings with a supernatural or ghostly theme. For instance he exhibited an entire series called 'Ghosts I have seen". I am not sure of the date of the drawing but he did the similar pictures in the late 1920's and early 30's. It may possibly be a decade earlier. The difficulty in dating comes from the fact he continued to do similar pieces for a considerable period of his career. Its a finely drawn piece, evocative in it's simplicity and elegance. The figures are classical types. I have seen them in related drawings in similar poses and groupings connected by some far off narrative. Be they Psycho-pomps or senators of Rome? They are most probably simply ghosts. Classical and stylised and they slide into vision and substance via the portal device of the of the large 'ectoplasmic tree' form on the left of the composition. The drawing has a pleasing and calming presence. They are communicative and friendly spirits who have willingly given me advice and good council on more than several occasions. £1375 SOLD

Large pastel
19ins x 24ins Initialed and dated 1954 John Balance:- "This large and impressively complex Magickal pastel has baffled and perplexed me for all the years I have owned it. For on all the occasions I have had the privilege of being able to explore it's depths and elusive meanings it has remained a marvellous mystery to me.I can point out that the central figure appears to be a Pan-drogenous, priest/ priestess whose stern countentence and Magickal mudra, or hand-gesture generates a storm of fire and lightening and energy vortexes that flash through the picture. A hand gesture that Austin Spare also drew himself making many times over the years,the Shaman/ess is captured in the middle of a Spell-Casting. Caught in the flux and fury of strange coloured geometries and melted, mutating grids and saturated colour fields that Spare frequently used in many of his later, more frenzied and intensely personal vision-pictures. I can point out the hybrid of horse and human female who is being dragged backwards into the sun, and the elephant trumpeting out a coloured sound spiral.Synthesia. And one can make out the image of a burning book or page of a manuscript on the lower left of the picture. An image that forms part of the process of sigil making in Spare's Zos Kia Cultus methodology.And notice the curious human hand that serves as the figure's 'left-foot'.I bought this picture at auction from Sotherby's in Bond Street, London in the mid 90's. Unfortunately it had been removed from its original frame and has lost it's title as a result." £5250 SOLD