Sheet Music

A guest curated show by Kevin Finch of Peter Harrington, London.

Désiré Dihau was a bassoonist who had made his reputation as a performer at the Paris Opera. Dihau was a cousin of Toulouse-Lautrec, and introduced him to Edgar Degas. This image of Dihau is a variation of a drawing taken from Degas original oil painting from 1868 that hung in Dihau’s house.

Kandinsky wanted to evoke sound through sight and create the painterly equivalent of a symphony that would stimulate not just the eyes but the ears as well. Kandinsky is believed to have had synaesthesia, a harmless condition that allows a person to appreciate sounds, colours or words with two or more senses simultaneously. In his case, colours and painted marks triggered particular sounds or musical notes and vice versa. 

This screenprint of Robert Fraser and Mick Jagger is a reworking of a press photograph taken by John Twine. It shows the art dealer and musician on there way to court in a police van, handcuffed together, to await sentencing for drug charges. The print was issued on behalf of Release, a charity set up to provide support for individuals who have fallen foul of the UK drug laws.

Warhol before making his name as a fine artist, offered his services to record labels designing record covers, even as an established artist he carried on designing a total of 51. Although this image is not a record cover design or a celebrity it crosses both boundaries.

Lichtenstein makes a playful use of the staves and notes in this screenprint, showing that music has no boundaries as the quaver triplet bounces off the edge of the image.

Hume’s image of Michael Jackson, a screenprint and embossing after an oil painting was printed 7 years before the singer’s death. “I tried to be as sympathetic as I could,” says Hume. “I wasn’t in any sense trying to ridicule him. I feel for him.” Why Jackson? “The picture chose me – you know, he is a totally peculiar man.”

Best known for designing the record cover for the Beatle’s Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album. Blake has used numerous musicians in his various mediums over the years, this is a screenprint after a photograph taken in 1957 by an unknown photographer.

Amy Winehouse vacuuming and putting out a bag of rubbish from her house in Camden. In 2008 when opening her door she was regularly confronted by waiting paparazzi. Laing said he was fascinated by Winehouse, and his creations were a reflection of modern Britain’s addiction to celebrity froth.

Gavin Turk as Sid Vicious in the pose of Andy Warhol’s Elvis Presley. In 1963 Warhol created various life size screenprint canvases of Elvis using a publicity still from the 1960 western film Flaming Star. Turk has recreated the pose dressed as Vicious from his My Way video released in 1978.