Lot 2056
‡AUSTIN OSMAN SPARE (1886-1956)
PORTRAIT OF JOHN TEED (1911-1996)
Buste length, wearing a brown suit and blue shirt, signed with initials and inscribed John Teed/ 1935/ AOS/ PXT, pastels
41.5 x 31.5cm.
* Teed served in the Indian Army but, upon his return to England, he became an actor and theatre designer. Later, he began working as an antiques dealer in Bradford on Avon and his beloved Italianate house was filled with treasures from a lifetime of collecting.
Teed probably became acquainted with Spare through a mutual friendship with the stage designer Edward Carrick (1905-1998). A large collection of Spare's work was sold privately after Teed's death, and much of it was acquired by Geoff Rushton (who died in 2004). This portrait benefits from being in the original frame; Spare had a series of pastel portraits framed thus in the early 30s. They have a distinctive wedge-shaped oak moulding and are nearly all the same size. A portrait of John Teed is listed as item 149 in Spare's 1936 exhibition and it is highly likely the present portrait is that particular work.
