Iqbal Geoffrey

Catalogue entry

J. Iqbal Geoffrey born 1939

T00539 Epitaph 1958

Inscribed on back 'M.J.I. GEOFFREY | 1958 Montgomery'
Oil, enamel, lacquer, gold powder and mixed media on card, 10 1/8 x 15 (26 x 38)
Presented by A.S. Alley 1962
Prov: A.S. Alley, London (purchased from the artist's studio in Pakistan 1959)
Repr: A.S. Alley, H.W. Janson and Sir Herbert Read, Iqbal Geoffrey: Paintings, Drawings, Watercolours 1949-63 (New York 1963), n.p.

'Epitaph 1958' was painted in Montgomery, Pakistan. The artist wrote (letter of 20 August 1962) that the circular shapes are derived from the mandala, a symbol used in Hindu mythology as a focal point in meditation and the source of spiritual refreshment. 'Gold has been used to give it a timeless effect and validity because it lifts the spectator into a new world - perpetual and mystic. In this painting I wrote an Epitaph on 1958 and thus conveyed my reactions to my environments and my concern over the current values.'

According to the donor, it is one of only eight paintings by Geoffrey surviving from 1958.

Published in:
Ronald Alley, Catalogue of the Tate Gallery's Collection of Modern Art other than Works by British Artists, Tate Gallery and Sotheby Parke-Bernet, London 1981, p.273, reproduced p.273

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