Some beautiful women of to-day

Egon, Nicholas. [ introduction by Maurice Collis

Published by Theodore Brun, London, 1952

About this Item

RARE SIGNED LIMITED DE LUXE EDITION - NO 49 OF ONLY 100 SUCH COPIES IN FULL GREEN GILT LEATHER : Signed by the Artist Nicholas Egon and published by special arrangement with Messrs. Putnam & Co Ltd, London. Printed by the Chiswick Press. Lovely binding, ruled in gilt, with 5 compartments to the spine, and with gilt work within each compartment. Pastedowns and endpapers in decorative design. A clean tightly bound example, pages very good indeed, alongside the "Forty-eight portraits reproduced by collotypes" p. [10], 48 leaves of ill. Scarce. Note about the Artist :b. Czechoslovakia. Artist, largely self-taught (also through the study of the old master drawings and prints in the British Museum, Ashmolean and other museums). Arrived in London aged 17. In 1940 commissioned official war artist to the Czech army. In 1944 posted in British army to Basra. 1946 returned to London and worked in Erno Goldfinger's architectural office. 1946-50 taught at Sir John Cass College and gave weekly lectures at the National Gallery. 1947 elected (the youngest) Fellow of Royal Society of Art. Early works included abstracts inspired by science. He was involved with British Surrealists (Roland Penrose, Jack Brunius, E.L.T. Mesens) and exhibited at the Zwemmer Gallery alongside the likes of John Tunnard, Conroy Maddox, Ithel Colqhoun, Eileen Agar, Matta and Henry Moore. Since 1949, when he went to Greece where he was commissioned to paint a war memorial and subsequently to make portraits of the Greek royal family, he has been largely active as a society portraitist and as a landscape painter. Has depicted many heads of state, not least in Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria and Morocco (the Jordanians often used works by him as gifts of state). Other sitters include W. Somerset Maugham, L.S. Lowry, Arturo Toscanini and Helen Mirren (the latter in 1966). Since 1978 has focussed on painting the Greek landscape. With his wife, Matti Xyla, benefactor of the Greek and Roman Department (members of the "Caryatid" supporters group). Founder and benefactor of the annual Runciman Lectures at King's College, London, in honour of his close friend, the Byzantinist Sir Steven Runciman (1903-2000). { British Museum }. Seller Inventory # 032194

Bibliographic Details

Title: Some beautiful women of to-day

Publisher: Theodore Brun, London

Publication Date: 1952

Binding: Hardcover

Condition: Near Fine

Dust Jacket Condition: None Issued

Signed: Signed by Illustrator(s)

Edition: Limited Edition