Figure with Heart, an oil on canvas by John Banting – £22,000 at Christie’s.
One of the most notable was Figure with Heart by John Banting (1902-72).
The 17 x 21in (43 x 53cm) oil on canvas by the early British Surrealist dated from 1930 and was painted with the explicit intention of shocking the viewer – showing a bleeding heart from a deliberate cut the artist had made in the canvas.
The veined leaf behind the figure was a recurring motif in Banting’s work during this period.
The striking subject and early date made it an attractive proposition against a £8000-12,000 estimate and it was bid to a final £22,000 – above the £19,000 it had fetched at the sale of the Peter Nahum collection at Christie’s South Kensington in November 2006 but a lesser amount taking inflation into account.
