Peter Howson, Scottish 1958-, Blind Leading The Blind V

Peter Howson Scottish 1958- Blind Leading The Blind V oil on canvas 1991, oil on canvas 96 x 72 in. (243.8 x 182.9 cm.), Frame: 103 x 79 in. (261.6 x 200.7 cm.) Provenance: with Flowers East Gallery (label verso); Salander O'Reilly Galleries, Beverly Hills, CA Note: "A work of profound historical and emotional gravity, Blind Leading The Blind V stands among Peter Howson’s most powerful and culturally significant paintings. Created in the wake of the artist’s direct engagement with the conflict in Bosnia—where he served as an official war artist in the mid-1990s—the composition channels the psychological devastation and moral disorientation he witnessed firsthand. The monumental, contorted male figure dominates the canvas with an almost sculptural force. Muscular yet burdened, heroic yet fractured, he appears both powerful and lost—an embodiment of humanity navigating chaos without sight or certainty. The title invokes the biblical parable, a theme that resonated deeply with Howson during the Balkan conflict, where questions of leadership, faith, and collective responsibility were starkly exposed. Howson’s distinctive style—often described as a fusion of social realism and Renaissance monumentality—is at its zenith here. The exaggerated anatomy recalls Michelangelo’s titanic forms, yet the mood is unmistakably contemporary: raw, urban, and psychologically charged. Flesh is rendered in chiseled planes and dramatic chiaroscuro, heightening the sense of inner turmoil. The subdued, industrial backdrop intensifies the isolation of the figure, situating him within a landscape that feels both literal and symbolic. Works from the Blind Leading The Blind series are widely regarded as central to Howson’s mature oeuvre. They crystallize the themes that define his practice: moral struggle, human frailty, spiritual searching, and the endurance of the individual amid collective catastrophe. Rarely available and deeply resonant, this painting represents not only a cornerstone of the artist’s production but also a poignant artistic response to one of the late twentieth century’s most harrowing conflicts. Museum-calibre in scale and significance, Blind Leading The Blind V offers collectors a defining example of Peter Howson’s uncompromising vision at a pivotal moment in his career."

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