John Deakin (1912-1972), Oil on canvas, A Mexican village with figures in a market square selling th

Lot description

John Deakin (1912-1972), Oil on canvas, A Mexican village with figures in a market square selling their wares. Signed and dated (19)35 lower right. Approx. 16" x 19" John Deakin was an accomplished painter in his early career, as well as portrait, fashion and street photographer. Not much is known of his early years. He was born in Liverpool in 1912. During his early career in 1930 he worked in Dublin, Ireland, and spent the middle to late 1930s travelling to Italy, Spain, Malta, Mexico, USA, Tahiti, Africa etc. with his partner Arthur Jeffress, a renowned art critic and collector. Jeffress was a wealthy American who helped Deakin in his career and financed their travelling while Deakin was painting. In October 1935 they sailed together to Vera Cruz in Mexico. From there they travelled to Mazatlan, and by May 1936 they had arrived in Los Angeles to visit Jeffress' friends and relatives. Returning to Europe through Paris and Rome, they settled in London, where in 1938, Deakin exhibited paintings of his travels at the Mayor Gallery, Cork Street, to critical acclaim. In 1939 he started photographing for Vogue magazine, mainly portraits of writers, artists, poets, actors, to include Eugene Ionesco, W. H. Auden, Yves Montand, Picasso, Dylan Thomas, etc. But also of his friends of Bohemian Soho, London, sitters to include Lucian Freud, John Minton, Francis Bacon, Robert Colquhoun, Robert MacBryde, etc. Lucian Freud painted Deakin's portrait and used his photographs to paint his subjects such as George Dyer, Henrietta Moraes, etc. After Bacon's death over 300 silver prints were found in Reece Mews that were used as painting images. Among them portraits by Deakin of Oliver Bernard, JP Donleavy. Francis Bacon supported Deakin to the end, and Deakin made Bacon his next of kin. While in Europe he photographed World War II from 1940 until the end. During the early 1950s he photographed the street life of Paris and Rome, and in 1956 he exhibited the images in London. However, he felt that his true vocation was to paint, in the 1960s he returned to painting again until his death in Brighton where he was convalescing with the help of Francis Bacon.